Happy Birthday Alex!

This birthday shout out is not just going out over the internet somewhere, but overseas as well. This fine slice of manly goodness you see is currently in Iraq defending yours and my freedom. Happy Birthday my friend Alex! Stay safe and remember we're thinkin' of ya!

Gettin the Laurie Love!

Obviously, either the Angels or I were getting the evil eye tonight!

Happy Birthday Matt!

This evening I'd like to send out a very happy happy birthday to my buddy Matt! Not many guys have won me over to the point that I could let him marry one of my best friends, but Matt? He sure did! Thanks for all the fun, letting his wife give me advice, and babysitting the LoveSac!

The Great Pumpkin Carving Festival!

Tonight Connor and I took part in the great annual activity of carving pumpkins. It's kinda funny actually . . . you see, last year while I was still living in Utah, and Laurie and the boys were still in California, I went down to visit them a few weeks before Halloween. We carved pumpkins, and had a great time. Now, a year later, here I am again carving pumpkins with Connor!



Here is my pumpkin, all shiny and round. I'm pretty excited to get into the decorating, as I have my favorite pumpkin face I've used the last few years!



"Where shall I make the first inscision?" Asks Connor, displaying his cute little knife . . .



It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it!



So, in all reality, I really enjoy carving pumpkins. Basically it comes down to the fact that I have a good excuse to mush things inbetween my fingers. I've always had a thing for mushing things . . . mud . . . butter . . . I even climbed on top of the fridge once to get my hands into a bunch of bananas! Pretty good for a two year old!



Here's my finished creation! Well, with a lit candle inside it. I think it's just the cutest little pumpkin face ever!



And here is Connor with his finished creation! He even took the picture himself as well. I must say, it was a grand evening for pumpkining!



Now after all the sorting through the gush, I've separated the seeds out so we can make pumpkin seeds for snacking on tomorrow!

fake eyelashes

Fun, eh? They are PRETTY crazy!

Happy Birthday Trevor!

I must give a shout out to one of my most favorite boys, Happy Birthday Trevor! My wish for you is that school treates you kindly, and that you can enjoy the delight of being 23!! Now go blow out those candles!

Middle of Nowhere?

That's where I was tonight, in the middle of nowhere! At another fantastic barn dance! In attendance were all the fun-loving YSA's of Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC. I couldn't imagine being on the decorating comittee for this dance, but they sure did a great job!!



As you can see, there were many in attendance.



Here's a part of my friends in attendance, I'm in the pink hat as the cute cowgirl, with Kami in the pink tiara and fairy wings, and Michelle as an 80's rocker's in the hot leather jacket. In the back we have Chris as a John Deere farmer, another Chris as himself, Rachel in the Komono, and Ruthie as Jessie from Toy Story 2.



"Yay for barn dances!"



When I saw this guy, I was plenty glad that I didn't go as Syndrome tonight either. He had the greatest costume ever. With his help, I've got a good idea how to do the Syndrome thing next year . . .



Kami and I had such a great time, we had to do one of the classic, "self potraits" that never end up centered. Check out the eyelashes on both of us though . . . it was my first time, but we wore fake eyelashes! It was a bit distracting at first, but we had a lot of fun wearing those crazy things!



On the way home, I decided to try something new, so without looking at the camera I took a picture of Chris in the backseat, as I was speeding down the beltway at 75 mph. He looks quite dashing, wouldn't you agree?

Happy Birthday Jen!!

To Jennifer Marie, I wish the hap-happiest of birthdays! She's one of my favorite people from New York. This picture of of her overlooking Lake Ontario in Sackets Harbor, one of my favorite places on earth! Hope the sun is shining upon you today my friend, and that your birthday is fantastic!

Happy Birthday Stephanie!

To my lovely sister, she's crossed over the bridge into real adulthood, the big 26! Now there is no going back, you get the best insurance rates, and can rent any kind of car you want! Lucky girl! Scariest thought is though, that she's closer to 30 than 20 now. heh! I love you Steph and hope you have an excellent birthday!

Party in the Woods!

I've come to discover that here is VA, we know how to party! Tonight I went to the second of three awesome halloween dances. Last night was one in Centerville, VA . . . I didn't dress up, as I was unsure how many others would dress up . . . but I learned! It's an interesting feeling being one of the few not dressed up at a costume party . . .



So tonight I decided to jump on the bandwagon and got into the spirit of things. I wanted to dress up as Syndrome, from The Incredibles, because I can make my hair stick up so perfectly . . . but I copped out and went as a simple cowgirl.



Here we have Sarah, Rachel, Robert, and Ron. As you can see, the boys got more into the halloween spirit, Ron especially as the Holy Spirit.



Ruthie wore some of her own funky clothes, and looked fabulous! While Ron went all out and even spray painted his shoes . . . I can't imagine trying to get all that white makeup off!



This was definately my most favorite costume of the evening though. How awesome to be Homestar Runner for halloween!



Ruthie and Jeremy out on the dance floor shakin' their groove thang.



The barn that the dance was in was decorated so cool . . . this bumper sticker was one of my favorite parts . . . heh . . . it was a great dance, hopefully they all prove to be so fun!!

Ferris Bueller's Day Off . . .

Tonight I was reminded of school days of past. I was flipping through the channels and came across the classic: Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

"Who hasn't known someone like Ferris Bueller? Someone who always has a plan, someone who made loafing off an art form, someone who could fall in a barrel of you-know-what and come out smelling like a rose?" - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091042/

"I don't care if you're fifty five or seven, everybody needs a day off now and then. It's a beautiful day. How can I be expected to handle high school?" That was how I thought in High School as well. Not daily, but occasionally.

The Movie remined me of one of the great days off I had with my two best friends, Jessie and Nan. We started off going to a neighboring high school to visit one of my favorite teachers, Brother Thurston. Then we headed to downtown Salt Lake City to drive around and loiter. As we were aimlessly driving around, we decided to take a tour of The Cathedral Of The Madeleine as none of us had ever been there. It is a beautiful building. We then drive around some more, and saw that outside of The Capital Theatre there were a bunch of elementary school aged kids, and busses . . . we wanted to investigate. I parked my awesome '88 Chevy Sprint "The Flying Tin Can" as we called it, and walked around outside. We found out there was a ballet that afternoon, and we were actually invited inside to watch it. Of course we were not going to pass up such an opportunity, so we settled in on the balcony, and anticipated the great event.

That is when the "OH CRAP" factor hit. You see, we sat pretty far up to the top, as to not take seats away from the students coming in, so we thought we were totally safe. Then we started to see kids our ages file into the theatre. Then students we knew, and Nan's arobics teacher, Mrs. Williams -whom's class she was sluffing! Mrs. Williams and JHS's Dance Company were on a field trip as well . . . needless to say we sat low in our chairs, and ducked out as soon as the ballet was over!

After that excitement, we were starving, and went to our beloved Dee's Family Restaurant on North Temple and 150 East. (it has since been turned into a parking lot . . . oh the sadness!) After our fantastic lunch, we went out to Hale Center Theatre, and took a tour of the place, and looked through the costumes they had. It was so awesome! At great ending to a day of adventure!

I think the coolest thing about the whole day is that we were sluffing school, out in the open air, and no one even thought about stopping us in our tracks! We totally got away with it! Woo hoo! After all the fun, we did eventually go back to school. I had to get to my horticulture class, and Jessie and Nan couldn't miss the last period, but I must say, we had an awesome time! Thanks to Ferris Bueller, we made it happen, and had a day comparable to his!