I'm thankful

for a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend that included...

hitching a ride to Logan with Jackie and Ryan
eating mashed Idaho potatoes
being with family
laughing lots
video chatting with Jape in London
playing princess with my adorable nieces
seeing the pretty snow and driving safely through it
staying warm with an electric blanket
watching family and ballet recital home videos along with some other silly ones, see here and here
playing pool with my parents
watching Star Trek with Dad
Christmas stocking shopping with Mom
eating pumpkin squares
attending the musical "White Christmas" put on by the Playmill theatre in IF
running into Lynds, Cole and Lucy
staying in my pjs all day
feeling incredibly blessed to share all of this with my amazing husband! :)

*picture by my dad

cozy time

i know this chair looks really silly, but i kind of still want it. i mean, it is the "most cozy lounge chair in the world".yes, i'm already cold in Vegas and i don't think it's gone below 45 degrees. uh oh. i guess that means i've adjusted to the heat, but i don't know if i'll survive utah and idaho next week. as long as i have this chair to nap in after my thanksgiving dinner i think i'll be good. hehe.

chair found here.

anyone want a ride?

*please excuse my extremely amateur video editing, along with my uncontrollable laughter in the background (i always forget that i'm the closest to the mic!)

*dog sled built by rich

decorating time

rich has been helping me decorate. his decorations are usually a surprise, like this one that I found during dinner tonight...
hehe. silly.

pumpkin time

During October I enjoyed anything pumpkin I could get my hands on... great harvest pumpkin spice bread, dairy queen pumpkin pie blizzard, costco pumpkin pie, trader joe's pumpkin butter and if that wasn't enough I made my favorite pumpkin chocolate chip bread (recipe from Annette)... yum!
I also did a lot of decorating with pumpkins. Rich thought it was pretty funny (a little crazy) that I couldn't stop buying them (there were too many fun colors and varieties!)..haha.
So it was only fitting that we finish the month of October off with the "Pumpkin Chuckin'" festival in Moab. Yes, that's exactly what they do- chuck pumpkins! Jess works for the Youth Garden Project which puts on the festival every year. It was fun to see Jess in action (even with a sprained ankle) and meet many of her coworkers. We had a great time hanging out with Jess and Nick and of course who doesn't love watching pumpkins fly through the air?

the world record holder in pumpkin chuckin'!the food...mmm!
the belt buckle and cowboy attire...
the petting zoo...

today

We headed to Red Rock for a little hike since the weather was perfect (I could get used to 75 everyday!). I was so excited to see some pretty fall colors since that's been something I've missed with moving to Vegas. We found lots of ponds and little waterfalls thanks to the past week of storms. There's even a foundation of a home called the Wilson Homestead at the mouth of the canyon along the trail. I wouldn't mind having this as my backyard, although I guess we are pretty spoiled to only be 20 minutes away! It was a fun hike and a great break from a busy week of school and work!

speaking of tarantulas...

rich made friends with one back when he worked at outback.

weekend time.

our friend's Beth and Brett came to visit from P-town for the weekend. we had lots of adventures with them.. but not exactly the adventures we had planned for.. our broken down car, flat tire on the borrowed car we took off roading, Beth and Brett's lost bag and car keys, early morning sunday drive back to valley of fire to retrieve recovered bag and keys... phew! anyway, we still had a blast and can't wait for their next visit!

flat tire on the Logandale trails to start off the day

so we took off to paved roads at Valley of Fire for some hiking... playing with sand my first encounter with a desert tarantulamore sand..haha cool mud and cool holes...B and B and petroglyphs

this little guy made my day (we made sure he made it across safely)

elephant rockpretty drive home

10.10.10...

it's been the best 3 months!!!

hi and highs

when I worked as a water ski instructor in Maine, we would finish our day off with highs and lows of the day. i loved doing this and rich and I have continued the tradition. so here are some random highs from the past week and weekend...

-reading The Art of Manliness blog to rich in the garage while he worked on the car (doesn't get much more manly than that!)
-going to bed the earliest we ever have in the past year (we were exhausted thanks to that cute party from my last post going until 2 am. thank you to the officer that showed up after numerous calls from us and other neighbors).

-putting these on and dancing around for my exercise one night.. hehe

-playing my violin along to the band Broken Bells and with Rich on the piano

-watching our Webelo compete in the rain gutter regatta

-meeting a neighbor (finally!)

-hitching a ride with Rich's parents to L.A to visit family and friends
-listening to conference and spending time with grandma hatch, aunt diane, kent, kristine, rick, shelley, russ and rich

-napping

-meeting up with Jenny and Ryan

-meeting up with Stef to walk along the beach, eat thai food, dip 'n dots and enjoy her awesome rooftop.
-walking to the L.A. river (i enjoyed the very different scenery than most rivers i've been to... graffiti, concrete and the knife (discarded piece of evidence?) rich found in the water)
-picking oranges from grandma's tree

-eating the delicious oranges and enjoying diane's wonderful cooking for numerous meals

-napping, reading, snacking, talking and back scratching all the way home to vegas