You Know You're Cool...

1.  When you think Prince Eric from Little Mermaid is a babe.
2.  When you realize you've been food blog searching for longer than you care to admit and have caught yourself drooling at times.
3.  When you wear long socks/boots/tights or all three to church to hide that you haven't shaved your legs in... let's just say ages.
4.  When you want to live in the Beast's castle from Beauty and the Beast because of his library.
5.  When you know ALL of the words to the Spice Girls', Wanna Be song, and continue to sing and dance to it whenever you hear it.
6.  When you seriously consider putting that you rock at Boggle on your resume.
7.  When you refer to your car as Snow White to the car mechanic, multiple times.
8.  When you eat cottage cheese and wheat thins together and think it's the greatest taste in the world!
9.  When you listen to Andy Grammer's, Keep Your Head Up, and push replay over and over and over and...
10.  When you like eggnog and 7up together.
11.  When you think and use the phrase "blah blah blah" like it has a definition.
12.  When you get completely distracted by your husband's screen saver that is giving the definition of words and watch it until it cycles through multiple times.  Then you test yourself to see if you remember the definitions.
13.  When you honestly hoped that Hogwarts existed and was going to send you a letter! (and may still hope.)
14.  When you name all of your possessions, including your grandmother's old crock pot that you had a really hard time parting with. (You should feel lucky Alli)  Her name is Sturdy Susan, my crock pot, not my grandmother.
15.  When you get kind of swoony when watching the old BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.  Mr. Darcy- wow. 
16.  When you plan your whole day around the excitement of trying a new recipe.
17.  When you talk and sing to yourself, when you are by yourself, and then catch yourself doing it in public.
18.  When you watch Tron and get mad that the girl is acting like an idiot for waiting for Tron, when they never had a relationship to begin with and rant about it for the next half hour.
19.  When you talk with your hands so much that you accidentally hit the girl sitting next to you in class.
20.  When you sometimes wish that life was a musical, where everyone sang and danced all the time.
21.  When you still get in trouble at the dinner table at your parent's house because you won't stop playing with your utensils. 
22.  When you seriously get so excited about something that you do a high kick and jump up and down yelling "YES" in a weird voice, again by yourself.  (We figured out our car! Aka Snow White) Woot Woot! 

Hopefully I didn't overwhelm you all with my "coolness."  I realized that there are a lot of things that 1. I do by myself or 2. That a select few people get to experience with me.  So I decided to share! :)  It's cool if you think I'm weird, nerdy, crazy, etc.  I get that a lot. 

I know this is a weird Thanksgiving post but just add it to my list.  However, I am so thankful that I have an incredible husband who accepts, and may encourage, all of the above, plus loads more and still loves me.  I am thankful for family and friends who support and have helped me.  I am especially grateful for my Father in Heaven, for a loving brother, Jesus Christ, who was willing to support and pay for my weaknesses and for the love that they continue to shower upon me.  I am thankful that all the above make me who I am. 

Edna: Your boy's suit is designed to withstand enormous friction without heating up or wearing out, a useful feature. Your daughter's suit was tricky, but I finally created a sturdy material that can disappear completely as she does. Your suit can stretch as far as you can without injuring yourself, and still retain its shape. Virtually indestructible, yet it breathes like Egyptian cotton.

Halloween is my least favorite holiday.  Why do we celebrate a pagan holiday?  One that believes in ghosts, witches, and vampires?  I'm not a big fan of candy, scary movies, or gross costumes.  (This discounts the years that I made all of my siblings dress up in a theme, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty...)  Why couldn't we celebrate the Fall instead?  With pumpkin flavored recipes and lots of spices by a crackling fire...Mmmm.  I digress. 

This year was an entirely new experience and I LOVED it!  I think that the excess of time that I have right now might have influenced this a teeny bit but I really enjoyed creating our costumes for a friends' Halloween party.  I will give you some hints as to what we were- We wore tight clothing, red, and masks.  (that costume sounds scandalous) One of us could run really fast, the other had invisible powers.  Need more? We were Incredible...

I had WAY too much time on my hands and so I was able to create these fun costumes.  Honestly I couldn't have done it without some sweet finds (Johnny's red suit, my one size fits most unitard (which had to be re-sewn), and one large, nasty, one sleeved black vinyl, coat.)  I made our boots, masks, and insignia out of the coat.  I had a lot of fun making these costumes and even more fun dancing and running around in them.  Note: the swim bottoms give mad wedgies when danced in...








We went to our friends' fabulous Halloween party and took home the Grammy for Most Animated!  Boom Baby!  On Saturday we went to our church's Trunk or Treat.  All of the little kids and a lot of the adults come in costume, in the afternoon, to the church parking lot.  Their cars are decorated and the kids are able to trick or treat in a safe environment and get tons of candy at the same time.  A win win.  The family I was a nanny for came and it was glorious.  The mom whipped out some angry bird costumes for the whole family and it was awesome!  They looked so good and I LOVED seeing them.  Alex was all smiles and Harry was loving the candy.  I sure miss that family.  Good thing we are friends now, so when I randomly show up at their house or stalk their kids it won't be weird...right?

Anyway.  We had a great Halloween and are loving the gorgeous Seattle fall.  It is sunny and so colorful.  I just pray it lasts a little longer.

Sweet Summertime

We have been quite busy this summer nannying and painting houses. We worked hard and played harder.  We had a lot of adventures this summer.  Mountain biking at Schwitzer, boating, Dance Family Reunion, Ragnar Relay, and some beautiful hikes.

Dallin running in the Ragnar Relay

We took off a few weeks before school started in September to fully embrace our last summer without school!

We started it off with a nice trip to my parents' house which is always a pleasure.  Tons of good food, family, bocce tournaments, hanging out at the river, free eye drops, laughter, and lots of love.  We loved getting to spend some time with Ashley, Brandon, and the boys, as well as with the Rietz Clan.

Hiking Denny Creek

Next we headed on a road trip down to Utah.  Whoa long trip, but was enjoyable thanks to a book on tape and an awesome road trip mate, thanks Dal!   The next morning we were able to go to a friend's wedding, Eric and Joann were beautiful and the spirit felt in the temple was wonderful.  It reminded me of feelings and promises that Dallin and I made 9 months ago.

A fresh bouquet Dal got me from our friends  (for free!)

 

The LDS Logan, UT Temple

We were able to stroll around BYU and were able to see Alli, Jake and a bunch of Dance/Hawkes cousins.  We drove up to Wyoming and went river rafting with the Dances.  Reminded me of old days rafting and I loved being able to be there with my sister and hubby!  BYU was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed reuniting with old friends and jumping back into the Provo scene.  We went rock climbing with Janie and Joe Endemano and also with Derek Orme and his friend and felt very accomplished! Well I felt accomplished anyway. 

We came home after our long road trip and headed off to the San Juan Islands, in the Puget Sound.  We chose to visit Lopez Island and biked around most of the island.  It was beautiful and we enjoyed the camping, homemade blackberry ice cream, the friends we made, and the biking.  We biked 29 miles in one morning exploring and loved it!  The burgers after made it worth while.

Sadly summer has come to an end and Dallin has started the second year of dental school and I have started my first quarter at the University of Washington.  We are excited to be back in school and love exploring and getting to know beautiful Seattle.  Go Huskies! (for now) and Go Cougars! (for ever). :)