Murder Mystery Party

Friday night we had a fun time at a murder mystery party that I helped put on. My friend hosted it, did all of the decorations and the dinner and then I guided the murder mystery. It was a blast and we had a good time with friends from our ward.

'Tis the Season...

...to be carving pumpkins!

Fall Crafts

My friend Ashley showed me this cute idea and this weekend I finally finished the pumpkins! I love the candy corns too. Those were another idea from a friend. Both turned out to be such fun fall crafts!

My Quiet Book

This quiet book took me FOREVER! I started it last November but didn't actually get going on it until a month or so ago. I thought I would never see the end of it. It was a kit that my friend put together so she actually saved me a lot of work to start but I still had to put it all together (which was very time consuming).

I saw a bible stories quiet book on someone's blog the other day and decided that I want to make that one next but I think it will be awhile before that happens. Or, maybe I should just buy one and save myself the hassle?

Yummy Treats

I got this idea from one of my friend's older sister's blog. She dehydrated yogurt blobs to make yogurt chips. I just thought it would be fun to try and now I am addicted! I love these things. They taste like taffy and fruit roll ups. Yum! And all it is is yogurt- straight yogurt! Brilliant!!

Mmmm.... fresh peas from the garden! Brandon likes to surprise me with them after work. They are so good!

My friend Becca and I tried making homemade granola bars the other night and I think they turned out pretty good. They were not holding together real well but we were still able to get them into bars. I just made another batch tonight with more honey in it, so hopefully they stick together better. Brandon loves them!

Babysitting My Family

A few weekends ago, Brandon and I got to play mommy and daddy at my parents' house. My parents got to go on a short get away for the 25th Anniversary to the Oregon coast and we thought it would be a fun time to babysit! We did caramel apples on Saturday night. Yum!

We also got to watch the Saturday soccer games. It was a little bit harder to get pictures of Rachel's games since the kids move a little faster in the game. But it was lots of fun to watch. I really enjoy watching my younger siblings excel in sports and other extra curricular activities.

The last two picts are just a few fun pictures from Crystal's game. I am really looking forward to visiting my family again in a few weeks!

In Our Backyard...

The other day I was just working around the house and noticed that our flowers in our backyard are just really thriving lately, despite the cooling temperatures. They line our back patio and then you can see the start of our backyard just behind them. I am really enjoying the place we are living in right now, meaning I don't think I want to move out of it until we leave Moscow!

Pearsauce & Blackberry Jam

We had leftover pears from when we canned pears with the Binghams, so we decided to try making some pearsauce.

Here you can also see the blackberry jam we were working on.

Isn't this little girl one of the cutest things you have ever seen? She had so much fun playing in that box.

The finished product. I really like how it turned out. Not quite like applesauce but still good.

That same Saturday (earlier in the day), the Binghams also took us out to Juliaetta, ID to pick a bunch of blackberries. We took the berries home and turned them into blackberry jam. We went with one of Rob's ag teachers and his son (who is pictured far left). It was fun to get to know them!

Fun Changes

I've been wanting to dye my hair dark for awhile now, I just kept holding off because Brandon was so worried I would hate it. But I LOVE it (thanks to Brandon's cousin, Linsey, who did it for me)!

Here's me and my favorite co-worker, Jenny. She keeps me sane during the work days.

Troy Turkey Trot

The volleyball team in Troy, ID (just 20 min. outside of Moscow) put on a 4 mile run. It was most community members that went and most of them were walkers. So we had a pretty good advantage. Brandon placed 5th overall and I think I was like 7th or 8th or something. I am not sure how many runners there were- at least 25 or so but not much more). So we both got door prizes. Brandon won us a free nights stay at a hotel here in Moscow and I won a big lego set... pretty cool, huh?

The run was just beautiful, as we went up through the trail in Troy where it is surrounded by lots of forest. The first 2 miles out was all a gradual uphill and then the last 2 miles was all a gradual downhill. So that was kind of fun. I really enjoy doing these kinds of things and Brandon is such a good sport to do them with me every so often. If I go too long without running some kind of race, I get 5k hungry and start searching for any possible race I can run.

I am so excited to run the Blue Mountain Turkey Trot in Walla Walla with my family this year on Thanksgiving!

Fun Projects -- more to come!

My friend Ashley and I have been getting together to make lots of crafts lately and I have really enjoyed it. I keep seeing her fun ideas and wanting to copy them.

I learned a lot about burlap when I made this wreath and I am not sure I will ever try and work with black burplap again, but it was still a fun project!

We're Still Smilin'!

I know it has been awhile since I last posted. It has been quite the last month for us. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through the month of September there for awhile but I did! I went through an awful yeast infection, the flu, and the strep all one right after the other. I never thought I would be well again and by the three week mark, I was getting pretty down, especially because I felt so limited and like I couldn't get out much. So Saturday night Brandon thought it would be fun to do a candlelight dinner in our tent, which he set up in our garage. He made me the best breadsticks (very comparable to Olive Garden breadsticks) and a nice Italian meal. Sometimes I feel so spoiled to have a husband that is really good at doing stuff like this for me. Even now that we have been married for 3 and a half years, I still feel like he makes me feel so special and I love that.

These were some beautiful red roses Brandon got me, as I was in the midst of all of my illnesses. Can I just say that it doesn't matter the occasion, I just love having fresh flowers in my house.