Thanksgiving / Fortune Cookies

Thanksgiving was awesome with Jake and his family in Idaho. We had a HUGE meal at Jim and Summers house with the whole family. Dad Rainey is an awesome cook and he made the best ham and turkey feast. It was too cold (a first for Jake) to play football outside this year in the usual family tournament so instead they played football on the Playstation.
We brought Hera with us and she didn’t know what on earth to do with all these little kids around to love her and give her food. She ate so much she was sick that night. Hera and Jim and Summers youngest, Brooklyn, were running around together like the best of friends. She would yell “puppy” and go chasing Hera around the house and then catch and hug her - yes lots of puppy kisses were involved (I guess it’s good for the immune system right? LOL). I had pictures but my phone totally crashed and everything had to be erased from it :(!
I actually participated in Black Friday! I never do and avoid the shopping “heck” like no other, but it was really fun this year with Summer and her girls. We went all over the place and shopped the mall like I was a teenager again. I bought a pair of darling high heels and Summer was so nice and bought me another pair of black high heels. I should take pictures to show you, because they are really darling. We also went to this place that is kind of like a Roberts here in St. George. They had the best idea for a craft that I will have to post. It’s these big clothespins that you mog pog – I’ll get crafty here soon and post about it.
Random update on Austin & Skylers new puppy Lizzy:

So I was watching the food network which has become my new favorite channel to watch. Jake I’m sure can’t wait for me to actually apply some of the things I’ve learned from the shows and cook some dinners, but until then ;). I did come up with one great idea from it – Fortune Cookies!

Austin, Melanie, Ryan, Skyler and our cheerleaders on the side Jake and Russell all got together the other night for a big Holiday party to make fortune cookies for coworkers and neighbors. We watched the Griswald Christmas show and had a blast even though we had burnt fingers and severe overdoses of caffeine we made it through. Austin actually became our cookie folding expert! You have exactly 5 to 10 seconds to fold and mold your cookie before its too hard and just crumbles in your hands. We put in cute notes like “ditch the sleigh this year and take the limo instead” or “watch out for Jolly Old Men” or “Mistletoe is in your future” – I know totally cheesy but cute.
Some pictures of the night:
Get them done in 5 seconds ahhhhh picture & okay we can breath now for 7 min until the next batch comes out!!!!!

we did it!!!!

and almost brought Melanie to start drinking...

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Disco & Birthday Slideshow

Birthday Fun

I sure got spoiled on my birthday. I woke up to a wonderful breakfast that Jake made for me. He made his specialty omelet with toast and orange juice. I then got to work where I was greeted with hot chocolate and so many gifts.
Lori my boss got me the most beautiful bouquet of purple and white tulips and with it she gave me some relaxing bath/spa packages and a travel magazine so I can plan some trips this coming year. My corporate communications team got me a cute popcorn bowl with the perfect movie night supplies. Nicole got me this awesome wall hanging that I put in my art/music room and it looks awesome, along with the book Tempted. Not sure if any of you have caught the House of Night series but its such a fun series to read (warning it does have some language).
Lori and Mike my two Vice Presidents that I’m an assistant for took me to Benjas for lunch. I LOVE that place – the cashew chicken with a level 3 of spice is to die for. It was fun having a little down time with the two of them and getting to know them away from the office.
Austin also brought me an Orange Peel drink that was so good! I guess the lady at Orange Peel totally remembers me so when Austin went in to order he said he couldn’t remember what exactly I got and she said “oh the girl at SkyWest with the long black hair… oh she has been getting the same thing for 2 years now and I know exactly what she wants” haha --- wow I need to layoff the Orange Peels I guess.
The afternoon came and the best part of my birthday started. Jake surprised me by taking me away from work for the afternoon and taking me to Jolly Boot Shop. We pulled in and he said “go pick out any pair of cowgirl boots you want” I was so EXCITED!!! I have wanted a pair of my own cowgirl boots for forever now. I came back to work to even more gifts … I told you I got spoiled… a $40 gift card to the factory outlet from Marissa and Brandi and an offer from Jo to take me to the movies on Friday.
It was Spencer’s 10 year anniversary and we threw a big 70’s dinner on for him. Not sure if you have seen this from the Office http://www.skywest.com/skysend/speny10/wedding-dance.mp4 but we did a duplicate of it just all dressed up in 70’s apparel. We even cleared out the SkyWest basement and pulled out the roller-skates. Disco music/Pizza/bubble machine and the disco ball --- what can I say ---it was awesome and even though it was all about Spencer he still got me a $15 gift card to Cold Stone mmmmm ice cream!
We then changed out of our 70’s gear and Jake, Austin and Skyler all took me to the Bent Fork for my birthday dinner. We were in one of those goofy moods and just laughed our butts off through all of dinner. Its always best that way isn’t’ it? To end the night off right we went to Cold Stone where we met up with Von and Ryan and had delicious ice cream and sat outside talking and laughing until late that night.
It was really a perfect day and thank you to everyone who made it so special. From gifts to text messages they all brought me a smile and they were all very appreciated. Here comes another fun year worth celebrating.

Happy Halloween

Gosh I noticed this week how I haven’t had any time to update my blog. I have had so many fun things that have happened the past few months and I really can’t wait to share. I hope I can get caught up here soon so be looking for some random updates and probably going back to my Nauvoo trip in September to my move just in the past few weeks – yikes lots of stuff!
Halloween was awesome! My work does this fun parade every year and we have a big contest for the best costume. This year I just couldn’t get into it and so Halloween morning and grabbed some devil horns and called it good. Of course Todd and Jo did a much better job than I did. Jo came as Michael Jackson and Todd was Dr. Feel Good. They happen to also be the announcers for the parade so Todd came out and announced his co-host and Jo was standing on the SkyWEst balcony hanging a fake baby over it. She then comes running down the stairs and is put in a wheel chair and rolled into the breakroom to start the parade. It was an awesome start for Halloween. Todd even had Nicole and I come out and stand on each side of him… She dressed as an angel and I was the devil. He held the microphone up to her and she said “stop giving Michael drugs” and then I said “give him more…give him more!!!” It was perfect!

Halloween night we went with Phil and his family to this cool haunted house in Ivins. I figured a haunted house you don’t have to pay for and that is located at a persons house --- no big deal --- wont be scary. It was crazy scary! Well not that scary, but I have paid $10 bucks for haunted houses and haven’t been that impressed with them. Kaytlyn decided she wanted to hold mine and Jakes hands while she went through her very first haunted house, but little did she know that I was probably a lot more scared then she was. I was for sure screaming a lot louder than she was LOL. Then she would scream really loud and you would hear this perfect giggle that would follow it. I think all the kids had a blast. We did the trunk-r-treat and then Jake and I decided to get some pumpkin shakes at Arctic Circle and head home to turn off all the lights and watch scary movies. It was really a fun sugar overloaded lots of screams Halloween.

Happy Anniversary

I just wanted to wish my parents a wonderful anniversary today. 37 years ago they were married in the Provo temple. My mom reminisced a little on the phone with me today from Tampa Florida, they are celebrating their big day at Bush Gardens. She remembered my Uncle John and Aunt Jolene taking them out to a Mexican dinner after the temple and my aunt had baked her a wonderful cake. They spent the night at the Royal Inn that has been now "shockingly" torn down LOL. The very next day they took off to Alaska where a whole other world of adventure started.
Thanks Mom and Dad for being a wonderful example to us and we love you both very much. We look forward to our 37 year anniversary someday and being as happy and full of love and life as you guys.
I included above the caricature you sent me that you had drawn at Bush Gardens. Looks like you guys are having so much fun.