D-D-D-Dangerous!

Our friends Sandi and Brent called us up and said they had tickets to a couples retreat at CLAS ropes course that they weren’t going to be able to use. She offered them to me and I said sure, thinking it sounded like it might be fun.  It turns out, it was a lot more than fun and this was no small gift. We spent 5 hours on all the CLAS Ropes equipment (rock walls, giant swings, giant ladders, zip line etc.) and they gave us a snack as we had couples ‘reflection time’ and then they fed us dinner, dessert and had a great guest speaker.  We both had soooo much fun and we decided we need to be willing to do more of these kinds of things to strengthen our marriage, and to just plain have fun with each other—even if we have to spend a little money to do it. Thanks so much Sandi and Brent!

Check. It. Out.

We started out by trying to figure out how to uncross those ropes without taking them off our wrists. We weren't one of the one's to figure it out on our own...we had some help :).

Then we went inside and made buildings out of noodles, marshmallows, tape and a cup.  We built the Empire State Building, you know, the one in France. :)

Then we did this thing on the ground. We kept taking steps back until we couldn't any more.

Then we did that same thing while balancing 2 feet off the ground on metal wires. Tuck that toosh sister!

Now my dear Watson needs to tuck!

Then I made this awesome face.

We swung on a giant swing.  My dear Watson was doing back flips and front flips like it was nobody's business. He is so brave.

I never quite made it all the way around, and then I felt sick.

I am making sure he can't see for our next game...

Blindfold tag! The men wore blindfolds while their wives spoke to them about which direction they needed to go so they wouldn't get "it".  My dear Watson NEVER got "it". That's because I did an excellent job of pointing where he needed to go.

Then we switched. And I got "it" 3 times.

We did some rock climbing! On his way down my dear Watson made me come off the ground and my hair got stuck in the Gri-Gri.  Haha haha. I had to yank some out. (He's on the left).

I'm a climber!

Then we climbed giant staples on a telephone pole up 30 feet and swung down the zip line.

Couple reflection time.

Then we did something CRAZY! We climbed more giant staples on a telephone pole up 25 ish feet and jumped to our doom.

There was a ring about 10 feet out that we were supposed to grab. I got one foot off the platform and crumbled. But...

My dear Watson grabbed that dang ring! 

Then we climbed the Giant's Ladder. The rungs of the ladder got further apart each time. My dear Watson is lending me a knee, then he has to climb up all by himself.

 After the Giant's Ladder we had Costa Vida while we listened to a lady recommend we keep a "grateful" journal for our spouse. At the end of every day you are supposed to write something down that your spouse did that you're grateful for. I've been doing it because I love how it makes me stop and realize how my husband does something wonderful every single day.

It's Almost Black Friday Time!

I just read something that said Black Friday is going to have the most, and best deals it has had since 2008.  *YAY*.  I don’t like shopping-- mostly because it takes too long and everything is too expensive and I don’t like the massive crowds of inconsiderate people (especially at WalMart).  BUT, I do love a good deal (and a good tradition), so I look forward to the chaos of Black Friday with hope that I’ll find something cheap enough to actually spend my money on. I’m in the market for some new boots (I’m hoping for a 2 pair deal), and a TV. We’ve been saving up so my dear Watson’s dream of owning his own big TV can finally come true. Although, we rarely get a single channel we can watch due to bad antenna reception. I kind of think a bigger TV is only going to make that more depressing. I’ll also be shopping for Christmas presents for friends and family—it’s always easier to buy things for other people than for myself.

I ended up with 5 pumpkins! I think pumpkins are the best way to celebrate fall.  Here’s me, like a little girl at the pumpkin house on 1600 North.

You gotta look at a close up of this picture. What. a. face.

I’ve always wanted to buy pumpkins from that nice old man, and now that the city is trying to shut him down, I figured this year was a great time to give him my business. I was in heaven. We spent $5 and got 3 babies and a toddler sized.  Then our nice landlord gave us a big one from his garden.  

My dear Watson had a birthday on Tuesday. Poor guy had to spend almost the whole day and night at school.  I wanted to surprise him by decorating our front door before he woke up in the morning.  I was so excited as I placed the last balloon on the door that he didn’t wake up! I actually, finally, was going to really surprise him.  I took a step back to admire my work, and saw two giant eyes staring at me from the little window on the door.  I screamed like I was being mugged and then we had a good laugh. So, I didn’t surprise him after all—but he sure surprised me.  I got him a few lame presents (because I bought him an Ipod Touch this year which kind of counted as a lot of presents) and I called him a lot to say happy birthday.  He had a root beer float (thanks Hannah and Kendall!) at the end of the night to top it all off. 

His best fake surprise face.

 

 

 

 

My dear Watson met me at the Creamery on 9th after a long run a few Saturday's ago and we got free blue pancakes for Homecoming!

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake. It literally tasted like a pumpkin pie in a cup. SOOOOO delicious.

Adrenaline Rush

My dear Watson and I needed some potatoes for our Pumpkin Soup dinner yesterday, so we stopped at the BYU farmers market to get a bag of delicious Idaho potatoes.  While we were taste-testing spicy pepper jelly on a Ritz cracker with cream cheese, we heard what sounded like a rear-ending car crash.  It didn’t take long to realize it was a rear ending, but it wasn’t two cars; it was a bicyclist who rear ended the car.   My dear Watson rushed up there and started telling people to get paper towels or napkins. One of the people who ran up to help was a CNA so she took over dressing his wounds. 

The biker was changing lanes from the bike lane towards the left, as if he was going to turn left at the light just ahead.  There were 2 lanes of traffic so he was probably looking to the left to make sure he was clear in the second lane, and misjudged the car that was stopped in front of him at the red light.  His head hit the back windshield and shattered it.  He had deep, deep cut about ½ inch below his eye and the CNA was pulling glass out of it and trying to apply pressure to stop the bleeding.  He also had a cut on his arm.  My dear Watson was talking to him and the man kept asking what city he was in, what happened etc.  At one point he said something like “I never crash.” A random lady was claiming she does “energy healings” and it was like she was doing the actions to Popcorn Popping right in his face—over and over. It was WEIRD.

He was laying in the middle of the lane, so some of the bystanders were directing traffic around him. It took the paramedics forever to get there because it was right during rush hour traffic around Provo.  Eventually we saw a woman riding up on her bike and it turned out to be his wife. They were biking together and she got far enough ahead that she didn’t know what had happened. She turned around when she noticed he wasn’t behind her.  She seemed a bit shocked. 

It couldn’t have happened at a better time, really.  There were a lot of people close by at the farmers market who were just ready to help right away.  When they needed ice and paper towels we communicated that back to the Farmer’s Market booths and voila! we had ice and paper towels.  I think he’s going to be okay. He was wearing a helmet and biking sunglasses, which is probably what protected his head and eyes. 

My dear Watson got some blood on his new jeans, but for a noble cause (and it washed out well). 

I stood there watching as a grown man lay helpless on the road, and random strangers got blood on their clothes to help relieve his pain and suffering.  It was a humbling experience as I considered if it had been me, how grateful I would be to those people for helping me. It was quite the adrenaline rush.

A Cake and Some Bibs

Well, my cake turned out to be beautiful AND delicious!  It's white cake with a vanilla cream mousse filling and with homemade caramel poured over the top layer. Buttercream frosting on the outside with purple swirls. My dear Watson said it looked like an 80's wedding cake. 

I've also been doing a little bit of sewing lately.  I made these bibs for my SIL who just had a baby on Saturday.

What? This was NOT upside down in my folder. 

Feeling a Little Fall-ish!

Forgive me a moment while I brag.

My dear Watson is doing SO well in Anatomy.  People are always  cursing the class at BYU and UVU, and word on the street is that Anatomy is MUCH harder at UVU.  As it stands, people keep following my dear Watson around class saying “You’re the smartest guy we know. Please study with us and teach us everything there is to know about myology and osteology and muscles and bones and stuff.” Way to go handsome genius husband of mine. I’m quite sure he’s at the top of his class although he’ll tell you, “nuh uh, everyone is getting 90% and 100% on their tests and quizzes.”  Yeah. Right. To be clear, as long as he does his best I’m proud of him whether he’s at the top or not, but it’s kinda cool when he comes out on top of such a difficult class. What an accomplishment!

All of a sudden the mountains turned red, orange and yellow.  Literally, overnight.  I bought some Halloween Oreo’s (with orange colored cream) to celebrate the onset of fall.  My pumpkin obsession is already starting. My head is reeling with pumpkin things I want to make, and ways to decorate pumpkins. I can’t wait to buy 6 pumpkins to put on our front porch.  Okay, 6 might be too many. Okay, I guess I’ll be lucky if I actually get around to buying 1 : ).  But you can bet I’ll make some time for pumpkin soup, baked pumpkin, pumpkin spice muffins, pumpkin mousse parfait, and YES, a pumpkin pie blizzard from DQ. I may have to eat all of this myself, since I’m pretty sure eating pumpkin is not my dear Watson’s favorite thing.

We had to say goodbye to Julie at the beginning of the week : ( so sad.  It was a blast to have her here and we will miss her and Adam very much. 

I’m excited for what’s happening this weekend.  I’m glad conference comes every six months, because I really start to feel a hunger for the words of the prophet and apostles. I usually finish reading their talks about 2 months before it’s time to hear from them again.  I hope this time I will be blessed to remember well the things I learn.

I’m planning to make a delicious and beautiful cake this weekend—with vanilla cream mousse, homemade caramel and smooth buttercream frosting with pretty designs on top.  Lately, everything I make turns out ugly, so it might be delicious and not  beautiful, but we’ll see!

Pies, and Corsages, and New Cars, Oh My

Boy oh boy. I’ve been feeling quite stressed lately and haven’t been handling it very well. We have spent probably only 20% of our time at our own home the past several weeks. My dear Watson’s school work has jumped up a few notches from where it has been in the past (mostly because of Anatomy), and I’m having to stay late at work on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s for the next several weeks.  I have a long list of things I want and need to do, but I can’t seem to find the time to do it.

My dear Watson watched a BYU Football practice in August and snapped this picture of Jake Heaps and our favorite little blondies. Just kidding, I have no idea who those kids are. Nice picture though.

Our Stake had a 40 year celebration and they put on a huge party. I signed up to bring some pies and this was the strawberry one.

We wanted Julie to experience Park City so we shopped at the Tanger Outlets and then hit up main street. There is always a lot of fun stuff to look at in PC.

Oh, here's my french silk pie. I didn't actually get to try it but I think it was probably amazing.  I tried plenty of the batter the day before, and I can't imagine whipped cream and an oreo crust made it any worse. 

Our car hasn’t been working very well lately. We got it diagnosed and they said it needed a new distributor – that’s a $200 part. So we thought, and thought, and prayed, and prayed, and decided it was time to buy a new used car.  A car that we know has the capacity to get us through our struggling years (like when we have a baby and no longer have a full-time salary while my dear Watson is in grad school). I was nervous that even if we fixed the green car it would poop out on us right in the middle of the time of our life that we won’t be able to afford a better car.  So, while we could afford it now, we bought a new car.

2003 Toyota Corolla, 107K miles, exterior looks awesome, AND it’s a manual.  It has been interesting remembering how to drive stick. There is so much to concentrate on! My focus goes more to the mechanics of driving the car, and less to the actual road rules (which is bad, so hopefully I get used to it again real quick). We have both felt like dummies as we step blindly into the world of buying a car. Neither of us have ever done it before, and we’re learning some interesting things along the way. Lucky for me, I have an amazingly mechanical husband who knows a lot about how cars run and how to fix them when they don’t. He is also really good at just taking care of his things in general, and especially his cars. 

Little brother went to homecoming last weekend and I made his date’s corsage.  I was pressed for time which in a way was good because I just dove in and gave it a go. I didn’t have time to stress about it.  It was cute, but little brother was quick to tell me that his buddy is taking a floral design class at school and he made a corsage that was much cooler. Thanks bro.

Little Brother and his Date.

I’m teaching the Family Life merit badge at BYU’s PowWow next month and I have been creating a family feud game to play during class. I have been thinking real hard about who I would choose as my teammates if I was selected to be on the real family feud.  Here’s the line-up (which has NOTHING to do with my favorites, so don’t write me out of your will or anything): My dear Watson, Sarah, Ben, and Andy.  J.  We would win, I know it—and then we’d share our winnings with the rest of the family. Right?

Who would be on your family feud team?

This is us on the way to the Rascal Flatts concert. Yeah, we might look happy but we were DEFINITELY frustrated. We were in traffic for 2 1/2 hours. 

We finally made it to the concert. Rascal Flatts were Awesome. 

Not Sure What to Call This One

You know what? I am a complainer. Sometimes I hear stories about people who walked to school, uphill both ways, barefoot in the snow and never once complained.  But that is not me. I’m not proud of being a complainer – but I’m wondering if it’s really true that those people NEVER complained.  Didn’t they probably complain every once in a while? I mean, the pioneers pushed handcarts from Missouri to Utah in freezing temperatures, they lost loved ones and contracted all sorts of illnesses, and none of them EVER complained? When I hear those stories I am both inspired to complain less, and discouraged because my difficulties are rather small and yet I still complain. Sometimes I feel like I just need to complain about something in order to help me get over it, and duh, so whoever I'm complaining to will feel sorry for me :). Maybe with age and experience I will learn to get over things quicker without having to complain and without needing to be felt sorry for.

Meanwhile, I’m still suspicious that those people who never complained actually did complain but looking back on it no one remembers.  I guess it’s good for me that no one remembers complaining in hindsight. 

“We need to break free of our old selves—the provincial, constraining, and complaining selves—and become susceptible to the shaping of the Lord.” – Elder Neal A. Maxwell (Interesting. The less I complain, the easier it is for the Lord to make out of me what I'm supposed to be.)

"I believe in grumbling; it is the politest form of fighting known." – Edgar Watson Howe (touche).

"The sun was shining in my eyes, and I could barely see to do the necessary task that was allotted me. Resentment of the vivid glow I started to complain. When all at once upon the air I heard the blind man's cane." – Earl Musselman (okay, I'm humbled).

"Those who do not complain are never pitied." – Jane Austen (Exactly).