Saturday, October 22, 2011

"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling." -Anonymous


So have I told you that I just love Fall?
Because just in case I haven't.. I am so in love with the Fall time lately. It just feels so cozy.
& yesterday I had the most wonderful Fall day.
:)



My roommates had planned for a bunch of friends to come over that night to carve pumpkins, make carmel apples, and watch a scary movie in our apartment complexes theater room just to get into the Halloween mood..
So we thought it'd be really fun if we went to the apple orchard behind our school and got apples for the carmel apples we were making!


I've never been to an apple orchard before so I thought it was SO fun..
There were SO many different apple trees, lots that I had never even heard of!


& luckily I'm engaged to the sweetest guy ever.. who was kind enough to climb up the tree after the apples that I was convinced looked the biggest!
[& let me tell you.. those apples were so yummy!]


I don't know if I can ever go back to buying apples in the store again!
These ones were like a dollar cheaper a pound AND very delicious.


Then FOURTEEN of our closest friends came over for our pumpkin carving bonanza..


& I'm SO glad they did because it wouldn't have been as fun or as messy without everyone of them there! 
But I have definitely never seen so many pumpkins in one house before..


Blake was so excited I think for his SECOND chance to carve an awesome pumpkin this October..
:)



He was sweet as I socialized and ran around and took pictures and kept working hard..


& his hard work DEFINITELY paid off.. our pumpkin turned out SO cool!
[Just wait for a picture of when it's lit.. and you'll completely agree!]


Then of course we didn't have ANY lighters or matches in the whole house!
So.. Plan B was to light a paper towel with our oven and then light the candles with the embers..
:)
and of course that..
[didn't] work.
haha so we had to go trick or treating a little early this year for lighters..


But when we actually got them lit.. I'm pretty sure everyone thought the lighter search was worth it!
They turned out AweSOMe.
Blake and My pumpkin [& by that I mean.. mostly Blake.. but he loved me and shared]
is the one in the bottom left corner..
go on.. tell me that you love it..







Then once we were all done admiring our professional pumpkins..
[which did take a while because I think everyone was pretty proud of their hardwork]
We got to put our apple orchard adventure to use!



& make ourselves really healthy treats! mm..
[the apple balances out all the sugar right?.. haha]


I didn't get as many pictures of the apples because as soon as I made mine, the opportunity to have clean non-sticky hands was ALL over.
:)


But they turned out really cute.
& then we watched Haunting in Connecticut in our theater room!
&.. putting aside the fact that I have recently developed not a huge fondness for scary movies..
It was the best way I could ever picture spending my Friday night.

I'm so lucky to have such fun people to share my time with and celebrate the holidays.
:) 
I hope everyone else is enjoying the Fall time too.. & I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
[almost ONE week until Halloween.. & my Birthday.. ah. can't wait]

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. -George Eliot

So is anyone else wondering if I have forgotten that I have a blog?
Because I definitely.... have NOT.
School just makes it hard to have a regular blogging schedule..
Everything's been a little crazy with classes and homework and my church things..
SO today instead of dwelling on all of that business.. I'm going to talk about some things that make me very happy..


First of all... My Dear Mother..
:)
She is always making such cute things.. but these cards I LOVED and they were very appropriate because.. she IS my sunshine.. 

Nothing makes college students happier than receiving mail and knowing their family remembers and loves them.. [or at least that's the case for me.. so.. I'm going to stereotype and assume it's the same for all college students with sweet families..]
 & not only does my mom send things in the mail for me..
But she sends them for my roommates too!
I have the best mom in the world.. I love you momma.


Second thing I love..
See those beautiful flowers brightening up my desk?


My sweet fiance gave me them just as a surprise one day when I wasn't feeling very good..


& Then this last weekend we celebrated our one year anniversary!
[more on that when we've uploaded our pictures]
buttt...
that definitely makes it on the list of things that make me happy.


I will say now.. [before my official one year anniversary blog] that it's crazy how much has happened in the last wonderful year of my life!

[This picture is one of my first dates with Blake.. I think he was making me laugh because he was making fun of our cute little pumpkin!]


& So this year I learned my lesson and I let HIM carve our pumpkin.
[or more like he was so nice when I kept handing it to him and telling him it was his turn.. haha]
:)



Our friends gave us this cool idea so we tried it and I think we have discovered an awesome new pumpkin carving trick!
If you get cookie cutters & gently hammer them in your pumpkin,
you get perfect shapes!



Ours is on the right... can you tell what it is?
:)
[If you can't tell don't tell us because after me jumping around excitedly because it was falling apart and both of us sticking in lots of toothpicks.. I think you form a special attachment to a pumpkin that takes so much work.]


But just in case you can't tell.. we carved [and by we.. yes I mean Blake] a witch and a caldron with a moon.. and our cookie cutter cat is on the side..


& along with the pumpkin carving..
[after we got through a few very snowy days in this dear little town] 
 I've gotten my wish and have been able to celebrate halloween/fall inbetween homework, tests, & class..
and that is the best I could ever hope for..


Blake took me to the Nightmare on 13th haunted house in Utah..
this was one dang good haunted house..
& I was terrified.
So if you have some extra cash and want to be scared out of your mind.. I would definitely recommend going!
:)


Then a group of friends invited us to go to the Haunted Mill
[a little closer to our college home thank goodness]..
& that one was slightly less terrifying..
:)
which I don't know if everyone else likes to be in terror.. but at least in my mind when I'm not closing my eyes screaming the whole time, that definitely makes it also..
slightly more fun..


& Ya know..  
It also could have been a little less terrifying because we were stopping to pose with the scary people..


& when you see these "scary" little creatures in the light..
you realize they are wearing velvet dresses!
& I don't know about everyone else.. 
but velvet dresses don't scream terrifying monster to me?


But to Tim they obviously did.. so to each his own I suppose.



We also found that if you were just nice to the monsters..


You aren't any fun to them anymore so they leave you alone!
[which.. is completely okayy with me.]
I guess the saying Kill Them With Kindness even works for monsters!

When we were at the Nightmare on 13th haunted house there were these girls that were scared out of their minds of the chainsaw guy and he thought it was so funny so he had backed them into the corner and I was pretty sure they were going to pass out from shock!
eugh. poor girls.. I hate being scared!



Lucky for me.. the scary man wouldn't even grab our feet when we wanted him to!
I've got to find a happy medium with these things..



But it was a perfect little break from school & celebration of my favorite holiday of the year!
:)
[speaking of which... less than two weeks until I'm 21! ah.]

Sorry my blogging has been the epitome of horrible!
I have lots to catch you up on... & promise I will as soon as I get caught up on all of my school work.

I hope everyone else is getting a chance to enjoy Fall- & I hope it's slightly warmer there for you!
Have a good Thursday!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

A man of courage is also full of faith. -Marcus Tullius Cicero

Any guess to where Blake took me this weekend that I was soo excited about last Friday...?


Because if you guessed... Begging on the streets of Salt Lake City.. 
you would be the winner!!
:)
jk


He took me to General Conference!
& with only tickets to one of the sessions [out of four]
We had to beg for our tickets if we wanted to go to any of the other ones...
AND..


My Heavenly Father must have known how badly I was dying to go..
Because we got in to all FOUR of them no problem..



Now to all of my dear friends that have... no idea what I am talking about..
:)
My church has General Conference twice a year.. & it's broadcasted all over the world..
So up until this last weekend I'd only seen it on TV.
It's where our prophet and all of our church leaders gather together and teach us what they were inspired would benefit our lives most, or what we need to hear.
& it is... genuinely.. the most amazing Sunday. 
Really Cool.



& Inbetween sessions we got to take a couple little adventures..
Our first one was to Brigham Young's old house! 
:)


Then the boys have their own session during the weekend so my friend Mirisha who we happened to meet up with in Salt Lake..
took me around to places she thought that I'd like to see..
:)
what... a sweet girl.


First she took me to one of our church visitor centers..
& I seriously kept getting chills.. it was so awesome.


 There were all kinds of videos of people serving others after natural disasters and even in just everyday circumstances..
It definitely made me want to be better..


 I love this church.
I know that it's true, I wish I could share it with everyone with them knowing that I love them, not thinking I'm trying to throw my religion on them.
It is my life.. it's the reason that I know who I am.. 
& it's every reason that I'm happy.

Every time there is a big event in the church there are people standing outside with the Book of Mormon on devil pitch forks yelling at us telling us we are Satan's followers and living in iniquity..
I wish I could share with you the love that the gospel brings me.
& the comfort that it gives me when things are hard.
Once you feel it.. & really see it work in your life.. it's as plain as anything else ever has been to you that it's from God.

& we believe in the bible.
We actually believe in a lot of what the people on the sides of the street that think Mormons are awful are reading to us.
The Book of Mormon is a testament of people in the Americas and really just reinforces a lot of what the Bible teaches..
& once you read it it's really obvious that no one man could have EVER written it. 
Especially a man with very little formal education.. 

I'll stop preaching now.. 
:)



But if you ever get a chance to go to the conference center.. it is beautiful.


& it's right next to the Salt Lake Temple.. which is also.. Beautiful.
:) 
I'm sorry if I overwhelmed anyone with my blog.. I really hate making people feel uncomfortable when I'm talking to them about my religion..
But if I'm ever saying anything about it.. know that it's honestly just because I love you and want you to be happy too. 

Going to General Conference was one of the first things that I put on my bucket list.. & I think that it's one of the first things I've got to mark off!

I hope everyone else had as great of a weekend
:)
Love you guys!

Have a great Thursday!