Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin Design Session

The pumpkin guts definitely soaked through the newsprint. Major mopping afterwards.

L to R: Hillary and Andrew, Will, Matt, Me

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

It's easier to see my graveyard with the lights on...

Hipsters for Halloween

Halloween Dinner: Mummy Pork Tenderloin

Theme Song: This is Halloween, Danny Elfman

Brief Respite

This past weekend we were lucky enough to have a mini-vacation up in Park City. A family from Will's mission rented two condos for the week, but only ended up using one. So we went ahead and filled that extra condo for them last Thursday and Friday night (yay for canceled Friday classes!)

We spent the majority of Friday at the outlet malls and I spent waaay more money than Will should have let me. I love his "you only live once" philosophy. Often that translates into a new outfit for me. :) We also got to spend some time with this wonderful California family who was generous enough to share their vacation with us. But mostly we did a lot of lounging around.

Driving up we came through Heber but we drove back down through Parley's canyon so we could take a detour down Lamb's canyon. Beautiful fall colors. Love vacations.

Fireplace in our condo

That little spot of light is the eye of a moose we saw Thursday night. You can almost see the outline. Seriously!

You can see the legs of the moose at the base of the light, if you have fantastic eyes...

Will always makes breakfast when we're vacation. I get a cooking vacation. That's the best part.

Outside our condo before leaving Saturday morning

The ...clever... quail that would not get out of the road

 Theme Song: Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

BzzzzZzzzzZzzz...

A few days ago there were a couple of flies trapped in one of the fluorescent lights in our kitchen's vaulted ceiling, and Will took it upon himself to solve that problem:

Yep. That's my husband. Standing on our fridge. No big deal. Luckily he did take care of the fly problem.

Theme Song: Fly on the Wall, Miley Cyrus

Happy Christmas and Birthday...and Christmas and Birthday!

This past weekend I was lucky enough to receive a gift that I will satisfy my gift needs for the next two Christmases and birthdays (at least):

When I was about 12 I decided I wanted an iPod and a MacBook. Back then they only had white MacBooks, and that was my main draw to them. It would be nice to have my own computer, and wouldn't it be more awesome if it was white instead of black?! I also liked the idea of just one mouse button. It intrigued me.

These stellar reasons eventually morphed into reasons like the ease of MacBook use and their prevalence at school. But I still really wanted one just because they're neat and artsy. I bought an iPod for myself during high school with the money from my after-school job. But I had to wait a little longer for my laptop.

I told my parents all the time "I want a Mac. Someday I'm going to get a Mac." All the time. Or so I thought. When I went away to college I was given an HP laptop by my parents. They didn't get the Mac memo.

 In all fairness, it is white. I got my white laptop I have always wanted. It also has a large screen that many movies were watched on Freshman year. It has served me well for four years, and has even crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Twice!

But it's not a Mac. It's a bit large and clunky. The left mousepad button broke sometime last year. It overheats if you just look at it funny. It doesn't like the Internet sometimes. It was a lemon from the start. Even my dad said so.

Will thought I deserved better than a computer that shuts down despite full battery power (all I did was unplug it!), and so we made a pilgrimage to the Apple store. One of the things I love about Will, he is a researcher. He came prepared. He knew exactly what model of MacBook Pro we wanted, why we wanted it, and the add-ons that we were considering. He confirmed his research with an Apple employee and purchased the computer, all while I was goofing off on one of the store computers a few feet away. (I'm embarrassed by my lack of involvement--this was a momentous occasion and I missed it.)

We returned home with one of the most beautiful and expensive objects we (I) have ever owned. Never again will I burdened with Skype malfunctions, lost documents, or a glitchy scroll bar. At long last I am All Things Apple.

Theme Song: Technologic, Daft Punk