Fall 2012

Well, here we are, about to end November and head into one of my favorite months. Despite the fact that I hate cold weather and snow, there is something about December that makes me feel so cozy and warm. I love wearing warm, comfy clothes, snuggled under a blanket, sipping some hot chocolate. Now that we have our Christmas decorations up, I'm sure we will spend some time sitting in the light of the tree, listening to Christmas music (one of my favorite traditions). 

We got our Christmas stuff out last Saturday. 

It took a few hours, and almost a whole cheese ball!

 But.... Let's rewind a little...

Back before Halloween, Taylor and Katie invited us to a Utes game. Despite the cold, we had a good time at a great game, even though football is not my sport ;)

While at the game, Katie and I decided that we wanted to carve pumpkins. So, we made plans for the next Monday to get it done! In the years I've known Levi, he has never carved a pumpkin, so I knew I needed to be creative in order to get him to participate. I'm pretty sure I found a carving that was right up his alley:

Despite our best efforts to support Romney, we all know what happened a few weeks later. 

We also had the opportunity to head out to Wendover to see Sawyer Brown again. We've been going out every year for the past few years now, and even though the show never changes, I still love it. Their music is classic, and they put on a great show! We even got to meet the band before the show.

Here we are with Mark, the lead singer

and with Hobbie, the pianist.

Let's end with another comparison of Malone''s growth: 

5 Months

7 Months...looks like he's crushing Levi!

...I sure love that dog!

Election Day

It's Election Day! I am so anxious and excited and nervous for the results. Levi has been saying he is nervous for days, and  I woke up pretty nervous this morning.

 

Before Levi left for work this morning, I had to get a picture of him. He ordered this shirt a while ago, and it came last night, right in time. I hope it helps bring some luck!

We believe in you, Mitt, and we believe in America!!!

The latest and greatest...

Time to dust off the old blog and write a little something! I know, everyone has been holding their breath for this...;) I would have a lot more posts up if I didn't get made fun of for wanting to put every cute thing Malone does on here. Let's get something straight. Yes, I know Malone is just a dog. Yes, I used to make fun of crazy dog lovers. Yes, I am now a crazy dog lover. But at least I only post pictures of my own dog, right? I'm not that crazy, right? A little support here?! I don't have any babies, so he is MY baby! I just want everyone to know that I am aware and I poke fun of myself at my obsession with my pup. Glad that we're all on the same page!

That being said... Check out Malone's cute Halloween bandanna: 

He didn't like it at first, and the only way I could get him to look at me was to say, "Treat!"

A few weeks ago, Levi's work (Marketstar) had their big annual party. This year they treated us to a night at Boondocks. Even though we don't have kids, we still had a great time (at least, I did!) Free food, unlimited bowling, batting cages, go-karts, laser tag, and a $5 game card. My favorite was the batting cages. My skills surprised me and impressed Levi. I want to do batting cages more often next summer. 

Marketstar is notorious for taking care of their employees, and have really great incentives. We've gotten our fair share of treats: an ipad, movie tickets, gift cards, etc. But during the raffle at the party, we received our coolest prize yet: a 47" Vizio TV.  It was very exciting  and I couldn't believe we won.

We are definitely spoiled!

After Malone finished his puppy class, we decided to put him in the intermediate class. Aside from a few set backs  (Malone got bit the second week, but made a quick recovery/He has struggled with learning his tricks) we are proud to announce the newest graduate from Petsmart Intermediate Training. He learned to "Go to his place" (which is supposed to be the mat by the back door), "Stay" for 1 minute, play dead which we call "Bang!", "Be sneaky" where he crawls along the floor, "Did you stinky?" where he looks away in shame, and a lot of other tricks that he's not very good at doing...

Way to go Malone! Now on to the Advanced class...

I have also received a new calling in our ward. I'm now the Secretary in the Primary Presidency. I've been teaching in the Primary for the last few months, and I've really enjoyed it. I had the best class ever. However, I felt I wasn't going to be teaching for too long, and I was right. I'm excited to still be working with the kids, but happy to not have to be teaching every week, since I teach all week long!

Levi is about to finish his CNA training, and will be one step closer to enrolling in nursing school. I am so proud of his hard work, and the sacrifice that he is making for our family. 

The End Of Summer

The last two weeks, Levi's sister was in town with her husband and kids, so we spent a lot of time with them while we could. It was very busy, but a lot of fun! Last weekend, we went to the zoo. 

Here Levi is with one of his favorites, American Bald Eagles.

I love the elephants! I want to ride one someday.

Levi with his nephew, Bennett

Best friends, Levi and Payton

The whole group

The weekend before, we all went boating one last time for the season. It was a blast! 

Payton let Levi take her out on the tube.

And guess who finally made it up on the wakeboard?!

Goodbye summer, It's been fun. I'm ready for fall!

5 months

Just had to make this small post. Today, Malone was laying on Levi's stomach (he still thinks he is a tiny puppy) and I remembered that I had taken a picture of them like that the day we got Malone. I just had to snap another picture!

6 weeks old

5 months old

It really shows how much he's grown since we got him. Hopefully he doesn't have much more to grow...haha...

I also wanted to post a few pictures of my classroom this year. I have an awesome assistant who has been teaching for years, and knows all sorts of cute things to do in the classroom. I need someone like her! I am really good at the paperwork, and keeping order, while she is super creative and full of awesome ideas. I think I will learn a lot from her this year!

Salsa and Puppies...

Yesterday, I had the fun opportunity to learn how to make and can my own salsa from one of the greats! My step mom, Deanne, is notorious for being an excellent cook. She makes some of the best salsa around. So, when I found out that she was planning on canning some this week, I jumped on board to help! 

Getting the tomatoes ready :)

The final product. Two batches, the first more spicy, the second tastes a lot like the salsa from El Matador. YUM!

Yesterday Malone also had a big day. He graduated from Puppy Education. He has learned to sit, lay down, come when called, heel, stay, and wait. 

Way to go, Malone!!!

The Summer, Mid-way

The rest of July has been filled with lots of fun. Levi has been getting really into cooking lately, and he's quite good, too! One night he came home from work with a plan to make some sauces. For what, you ask? Just so we can have some sauces, of course! The end result were two amazingly delicious items that I was willing to just drink for dinner! One was a BBQ sauce, the other was a spicy mustard sauce. 

This put an idea in Levi's head to make a spectacular BBQ dinner for his family. It took days of planning, and many trips to the store to gather everything. Levi started the night before, preparing the baked beans, then got up early the next day before heading off to work to get them in the crock pot. He was dedicated!

Here is the proud chef, about to serve dinner. 

The menu included:

Pulled Pork with home made BBQ Sauce

Baked Beans

Mac & Cheese (we're not talking Kraft here...)

Corn Bread

Potato Salad (courtesy of Lisa)

Peach Cobbler (courtesy of Taylor)

We were stuffed, and very impressed with Levi's meal. Yum! 

Just had to add this cute picture I caught of Malone. He loves to be as comfy as we do!

A few weeks ago, Mike and Lisa planned a trip for us to Vegas, and got us tickets to see the Phantom Of The Opera. We were so excited, since we've been wanting to go see it since we started dating. We had such a fun time! Thanks Mike and Lisa! 

One place we always make sure to stop at is Earl Of Sandwich. The best sandwich you can buy. Levi and I ate there all 3 days we were in Vegas!

Here we all are. Of course it was our first stop!

Everyone at the show

Levi has been saying that the next time we go to Vegas, he wanted to eat at Bobby Flay's restaurant Mesa Grill in Caesars Palace. 

We tried Saturday morning to make reservations, but the earliest we could get in was at 9:00 that night! The show was at 7, and we were all planning to have dinner together. As it turned out, Levi and I had a late lunch (at Earl's) and decided that we wouldn't be hungry enough to eat with everyone before the show. Levi made a phone call and made reservations for 10:00 pm. I've never eaten a steak dinner so late, let alone a gourmet steak dinner. We were tacky tourists and took pictures at our table. We were too excited to care!

Ok, so we didn't think to take pictures of our food (we were too hungry) but luckily other people did, and put them online. I am not taking credit for these pics, but we did eat this food!

Our appetizer: A Blue Corn Pancake with Barbecued Duck

My dinner: New Mexican Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with a Sweet Potato Tamale and Pecan Butter! :) 

Levi's Dinner: Chipotle Glazed Rib-Eye 

After we got home, it was time for Malone to have the "Ol' Snip Snip" Don't worry, it didn't seem to slow him down one bit. The only way we could get him to simmer down was to put his cone on him. He was the saddest dog in the world with this thing on. Now he doesn't seem to mind it, and we only put it on when we have to put him in his kennel. 

Cheer up Malone!

Last week, I met up with some of my old friends that I never see anymore. After we had dinner and lots of laughs, I realized how much I missed them and how fun they are. It's always good to know, no matter how much time you spend apart, there are those few people you can pick right up where you left off. Ashley and Rachel, you girls are the best!

What do Malone, Katy Perry, and a boat have in common?

This past Saturday was a busy one! It started out with taking Malone for a walk. The problem is, he doesn't like to walk, he likes to run! So I've gotten smart and started counting his walks as my workout as well. We can get in a good 2 miles and he could still keep going. We have this nice bike trail right by our house which is perfect because there are minimal distractions for my overly friendly pit bull!

After that, we got in about 2 hours of raking bark from our trees (is that normal for a tree to shed its bark?) and pulling weeds. Our grass is slowly coming back to life. This morning I almost stepped on a snake in our front yard and it scared me to death. Spiders scare me more, but I don't feel as good about stomping on a snake as I do a spider. 

Then we went to the Katy Perry movie, which was great! Levi and I both love Katy Perry, and we both openly have crushes on her. I'll admit, I have a girl crush on her, but it's more like I just really want to be best friends with her. I know it's weird.

Then we finally got to go boating for the first time this summer. It was scorching hot when we first got to Pineview.

Levi decided he was ready to try wakeboarding for the first time

He amazingly got up on his first try! Super impressive. I have been wakeboarding once before this, and I did not get up once. Not even close. 

I was trying to be enthusiastic, hoping that would help my chances for success

(Ignore the creepy way in which my arms bend...)

While you can't tell by this picture, I was better than I was my first time. I made it to a crouching position almost every time, but could not get the feel of standing. I'm positive I will do it next time. As you can see in the background of this picture, a storm rolled in and ruined our plans to cook our tin foil dinners on the boat and enjoy a perfect evening. 

It was a very busy, but fun day!

This little guy just wants to say "Hi" every time he sees the camera!