Seriously?

Christmas/Sub for Santa is in full swing at my office already (I know it's early, but we're anticipating 6,000 kids are going to need help this year, that takes some serious planning... If you're interested in sponsoring, let me know). It makes it hard not to be thinking about Christmas. While I'm holding out for post-Thanksgiving, I'm not going to lie, I've been tempted to pull out the decorations.

Anyway, I was doing something and was thinking about how great it would be to have a certain item. Almost immediately, I had the glorious realization that with Christmas around the corner, it would make a great stocking stuffer. I couldn't help but get a few warm fuzzies and more than a little bit excited. Then I realized, "Wow, I really must be an adult (or according to the blog, 'a big girl') now." What was it that I was so excited for? ... A vegetable scrubber!

Funny how quickly life and priorities change...

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to try and combat our cold apartment by putting plastic up on our windows (a little tacky, don't judge, it's getting cold here...). I'm happy to report that so far, it seems to be working.

The plastic windows have also had another unexpected side effect. Matt and I both happened to make it home for lunch (and it was actually a beautiful, sunny day) and decided to open the blinds. We were shocked and surprised to see a a HUGE amount of fire bugs between the window and the plastic. The good news is, it solved the mystery of what the weird flicking noises we kept hearing was. We spent the rest of our lunch break watching/listening to the bugs stuck and trying to get out. I couldn't believe how many there were, at one point, I counted at least 30 bugs flying around in there. We were just hoping to stay warm, who would of thought that we'd get some pets too!

(Can you guess which one is me and which one is Matt?)

Operation Martha Part 2

Remember how I get these great ideas about being crafty? Well, today was our ward's formerly known as "Super Saturday." I signed up for some cute Christmas crafts that looked simple to make. When the person in charge gave us directions, me and the others girls at the table chatted about how it was our kind of craft, fail proof! We were all were confident we would be able to leave with a great ornament.

We set to work and things went great. We filled some glass ornament balls with glitter and curled ribbon. Then we mounted some pictures of Christ on cute paper that would hang in th center. Everything was looking good until we had to get the pictures in the ornament's small opening. It took some coaxing, and there were some iffy moments, but I finished with ornament with great success. I was pretty excited and rushed home.

I headed out to my car with my hands full. I reached into my pocket to grab my keys, and heard a horrible noise. I dropped my ornament and it shattered in the parking lot! Two steps forward, one step back. I guess its not time to call off Operation Martha yet...

Oh Won't You be my Mentor...

Awhile back, I got asked to help out at Mentors Day at the good ol' comms department. I was happy to agree.

When I arrived, I approached the check-in table and was surprised that no one offered to help. The helpers were chatting together, and even with me standing there, they just kept talking. After a few seconds, I said, "Excuse me, is this where I check in?" They said, "Oh yeah, what time is your appointment and do you know who you're meeting with?" Gotta love looking so young! Despite my anticipation of this occuring and doing my best to dress extra professional and "maturely," the reason they weren't helping me was because they thought I was a students. Oops!

That was the first of a couple of other instances. At least no one referred to me as a "Childbride" (yes, someone once called out to us at the airport 'Sir, bring your childbride on over and take a look at this!')

On another side note, three of the six students who set appointments with me were no shows. Who does that? Not very professional. I'm wondering if I should take it personally...

Happy Halloween!

I know it's a little late, but I still have a few hours until it's officially over!

Happy Halloween!! Although we didn't end up dressing up for anything, we did decorate our apartment (back in Sept. actually, matt thought I was crazy...), carved a pumpkin (affectionately named "Pepper," gotta love her crooked smile) and made Cheesenstein for Sunday's appetizer (so he looked a little funny, we call it character). All in all, I'd say Halloween 2010 was a success!

Matt made me pose with Cheesenstein (and said "we need this for the blog")

Since school started, Matt hasn't been around as much. He leaves early in the morning, comes home later in the evening and occasionally leaves again after dinner. He says he is with Carrol. Should I be worried? Carrol even has the audacity to have a picture of me with her at all times.

I have a hunch things are going to be just fine ;D
Car-rel [kar-uhl]
–noun
1. Also called cubicle, stall, a small recess or enclosed area in a library stack, designed for individual study or reading.

** Each law student is assigned their very own carrel (or corral as we jokingly/lovingly refer to it). They can keep all of their stuff there and even lock it up when they're not around.

Cookin' It Old School

For those who don't know, my dad is an award winning dutch oven cook. Us kiddies have been bothering him for awhile to teach us the skills of the trade, so when we had a three-day weekend with Labor Day, we decided to have a dutch oven cooking/teaching extravaganza.

Who would of thought the hot tub would be such a great cooking prep table?

Good work Russell! If you need to fry something up, just use the lid. Who would of thought? Told you my dad was good...

Caitlyn working on the cornbread under the watchful eye of the master (my dad, definitely not the confused, trying to take it all in girl in the background)

Go Colty go! Way to use those muscles!

Just cooking and turning into something delicious!

40 mile stew, cornbread and cobbler, delish!

Cleaning up. Don't EVER use water in your dutch oven. Water= serious bad news! (and yes, i am a total tongue sticker outer when i concentrate. Another thing I learned from my dad...)

Amber has a gummy bear in there you know...

Oh hey colt and kadey

Well, the mama was behind the camera, so sadly, we have no pictures of her. As with basically every dutch oven meal though, she was there behind the scenes getting everything prepped and ready! She definitely deserves some credit!

Great day, great food and great company, although we were missing erin and abe (as usual). The good news for everyone is if you come camping with me, I know at least have an idea of how to serve you something tasty!