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).

Almost Over

Aye yaye yaye.  Another Education Week almost complete -- 4 1/2 hours to go.  The 7 zits that popped up on Monday are now almost gone, or at least coverable with makeup.  My voice seems to be cutting in and out and my poor knees feel like jello.  I made it through the whole week without ever breaking into tears at night when I finally got home to my dear Watson's listening ears. Well I think I might have had some tears on Sunday before the week even started, but still, only once is an improvement.  I'm still amazed at how unkind some people are.
The biggest pain in the neck was the huge amount of people who lost their name badges and were ready to throw tomoatoes and bags and presidents of Universities at us for making them pay $4 to replace it.   We are going to revisit that policy for next year; it was out of control.

I worked 14 1/2 hour days, but they fed me lunch and dinner--oh, and paid me time and a half for every hour worked over 40 hours.  Thanks.

My dear Watson went to two classes during the week and learned about cooking with grains from our favorite, Chef Brad. He has been able to visit me a few times throughout the week and his visits were my favorite part of every day.  Just having him sit behind me made the time pass by much quicker.

I'm hoping I sleep well tonight and don't have to get up to go to the bathroom. I've been so anxious about the week that I just can't hold it and go back to sleep like I usually do.

My dinner will be arriving any minute now, so I'm signing out.

Longtime Friend

When I was 10 years old my family moved to Orem, Utah. I don't really remember feeling extremely upset about the move-- I was young enough that it didn't affect my life in very many ways.  I knew I would miss the "woods" and all our forts, craw-dad finding, creek walking, tick removing and playing ghost in the graveyard and kick the can, and of course I would miss the lightning bugs.  There were a lot of kids in the neighborhood and we were never bored.  

Julie was the friend I played with the most during my years in KY.  She just lived around the block a little ways and had a twin brother who liked to build forts.  Julie is the only person from that neighborhood that I stayed in touch with-- by email and written letters. The last week of July, Julie came out to Utah and we reunited for the first time in 13 years. It was weird for both of us to get used to hearing our grown up voices. We sounded a lot different at 10 years old!  She is here doing a clinical as part of her PT program. I'm so glad she's here. It has been fun to be around her again. We have a lot in common and it's cool to reconnect with such an early part of my life. She is staying with my parents for the duration of her clinical (8 weeks). I feel bad that I'm not actually living in the same place as her, but mom and dad don't live far so we get over to see her as often as we can. 

Education Week starts next week. Since I have a year's worth of experience under my belt, this year doesn't seem even 1/2 as bad as last year. Yay! 

My dear Watson is finishing up his last week of school this week. He has been working so hard all through the summer to get through these classes. I'm so proud of him.  He's taking Stats and Anatomy in the same semester starting in the fall---YIKES!  

That's Julie! We're at Stuart Falls

My dear Watson and I with Julie and her Fiance. Adam came out for just  a couple days and then had to go back to KY.  He cooked us a delicious dinner while he was here and taught as all about Corn Hole.

Us at the Heber Rodeo

:)

:)

We went boating with the Watson's. It was fun.

My dear Watson got to drive his grandpa's tractor in the Heber City Parade again this year.  He is SO handsome.

This is a rattlesnake we saw up Spanish Fork Canyon. It was freaky.  I made my dear Watson roll up the windows in case the snake jumped through :). 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I love my new haircut and color. Sharla, the best hair lady in the world, did an amazing job. I only wish I could afford to have her cut my hair every few months.  I definitely got what I paid for though. I’ve never had a better cut.  Sharla has naturally curly hair too, so she knows what’s up. 

Here it is after Sharla straightened it. It was sunny inside, I NEEDED my sunglasses.

Here it is after I colored it and styled it curly.  I get better at it every day. 

I’ve been getting a lot of jewelry lately and haven’t had anywhere to put it. It usually sits on my bathroom shelf which is NOT what a bathroom shelf is for.  So, I decided I needed a jewelry tree and that I would make my own out of natural branches placed in an empty IBC Root Beer bottle. We gathered branches and I got to work. Some of the branches didn’t have enough branch levels, so I used yarn and fastened a new branch on, kind of like what I’d do if I was stranded on an island and needed to tie logs together to make a raft (only I’d use vine or tall grass or something).

I spray painted the branches and put a few floral beads in the bottom of the bottle. These beads start out tiny and then grow bigger as you keep them in water. They’re slimy and kind of remind me of eyeballs.

When it was all finished I was very pleased. My dear Watson said it was definitely a cool invention. I liked that compliment.  So now my jewelry hangs on a tree in my bathroom. I’m not sure how long the tree will hold up, but for now it is gracing our bathroom with all of its natural beauty.

I made that thing on the wall. It's a bed and breakfast tray that I painted, painted a different color, sanded and mod podged those square pictures on (I got those pictures at Ikea - a 5 pk for $.99). I also arranged those fake flowers which now rest on my bathroom shelf. Flowers DO belong on a bathroom shelf. 

Happy Birthday to Me, I turned 23, I went to Girls Camp and I built a Sweet Cake

You can sing my title to the tune of Happy Birthday....out loud, preferably.

It was my birthday on Sunday. I turned 23. My dear Watson showered me with jewelry and a journal and a sweet card.  We ate at Red Robin (yesterday) and I'm going to get my hair cut with some birthday money. I got a pair of really cute shoes too that I wore to work the very next day.  I love birthdays. I think it's so much fun to celebrate an individual's very existence.

I went to girls camp last week--ALL week.  I had a temporary calling as a Stake Girls Camp Specialist. So I sat around and planned things with all the Stake leaders (all who were many years my senior which was weird sometimes). Our meals were cooked for us by the Stake Girls Camp Food Specialists and the structure was much more relaxed than when I went to girls camp as a young woman. Which means I liked it a lot more.  I really enjoyed getting to know the young women and leaders in my stake. I made great friends and my testimony of Heavenly Father's love for me and all of His children grew a bunch.  My testimony of Jesus Christ and His ability to change my weaknesses into strengths through the Atonement was also strengthened.  I did a lot of singing, guitar playing and harmonica playing. I was most pleased with the 4th year overnight hike which I planned and took 15 fifteen year old girls on to sleep in tents, roast marshmallows and marvel at all God has created. It was a great experience for all of us. God's most prized creation isn't the mountains or the trees or the waterfalls or even the stars and galaxies -- it is little tiny you and me. That's cool.

Before girls camp we spent a few days with some of my fam. All my sisters were in town so the only person missing was big brother Ben. We had a lot of fun. Baseball, food, fireworks etc.  I built a really cool cake.  Check it out below.  I learned some great cake making tips and it was fun to do a little creating myself.

Time is moving lightning fast.

My dear Watson and I went to the Parade in Provo on the 4th. We rode our scooters (borrowed from my  4 and 5 year old nephews) from our car to the parade spot. It felt like I was in the parade, which I always want to be. 

Here's my cake all frosted and sprinkled.

Ta da! It has an American Flag on the inside!

Here's a better view with the blue part on the correct side. Not only did it LOOK cool, it TASTED scrumptious!

Here are the nieces and nephews chasing a smoke bomb. Letting them chase and pick up the smoke bomb made it interesting when we lit an actual firework and some of them went chasing after it. Oops. We had to remind them a few times that the chasing and picking up part was O-V-E-R. 

Spectators.