Decorating

As some of you may know my mom broke her leg a few weeks ago and has had to stay off of it 100% to keep from having surgery. Needless to say she wasn't been able to put up her Christmas decor so when we arrived we quickly got to work decorating!

Pulling all the decor out.

Finding a place for everything.

Shelby and daddy napping later on.

Shelby still napping but by the mock Christmas tree.

Random Update

Since this semester kept me busy with school, work, and my calling, the blog was a wee bit neglected. So in no particular order here are some crazy random photos/events!

My dear sweet handy hubby built me this beauty to allow more room for food storage in our tiny/modest pantry. It is designed to roll out so the new cans get placed in the back and the old ones roll to the front! Yes it is a knock off from shelf reliance but hey it only cost $35 to make!

In October my dad flew me out to Phoenix (it pays to be a daddy's girl) so that I could enjoy Time Out For Women (a gift from my mom). My stepmom Stacey joined us along with 2 of my grandmas (G-ma & Grandma Harmon), my step sister Ashley, my aunt Sherlene, and Linda my adopted grandma (Edie's friend)! After a spiritual retreat with the girls, my brother came with his two boys so I could finally meet my nephew Stephen! I don't have any pictures from this weekend but this one was provided by my G-ma!

I don't consider myself a total klutz, but seeing as it is that I had a severe sprain from just walking to the copier at work back in '07 (which I still have problems from to this day) would it surprise anyone to know that I busted my elbow riding my bike at school?! In my defense I was late for a study session with my professor and of course it was the day I had all but one of my books and my laptop weighing my backpack down. I went to get on my bike and put all my weight onto one peddle and the chain came off causing me to fall and land all my weight on my right elbow. This picture was taken 2 weeks after the incident. I was ordered to wear a sling for 2 weeks to protect my shoulder (which also landed funny) and to take it easy. HAHA! Easier said than done!

The last picture is just too funny not to include. Our sweet Miss Shelby is really good....I promise. This particular day I was crazy busy with Enrichment stuff and I was gone most of the day. Phillip had a lot going on with his non-profit counseling and had just used this borrowed tape recorder to do his final exit interview for a class. He spent hours upon hours transcribing it into 24 pages. He was to turn the papers and recording in to his teacher the next morning. That is until I came home to this. Yes the dog ate his homework and yes he collected the pieces and handed it to the professor in a ziploc baggie!

Thanksgiving

With so many things going on in our lives Thanksgiving was short and sweet and luckily someone snapped a few pictures so this is all I've got!

New Moon!!!

The invites...

The picture on the front door...

The sign outside the front door...

The decor...

One of the games...

The crazy girls with tattoos...

...who waited outside in 20 degree weather to see the 12:01 am showing!

I didn't take as many pictures as I'd have liked but you get the idea! We had a crazy fun time! Oh and the movie was GREAT!

CBS Cares

Are you kidding me?! Oh ya that's the best gift ever! I would kill my husband!

Stay Tuned

We are in the midst of finals so please be patient as we have lots to blog about when the semester is over!

Mmmmm...

All is right with the world!

Brooke White Concert Benefit

Please follow this link and help our best friends as all proceeds go to their recent adoption!

Ode To Shelby

{Warning: Picture overload and a little bragging!}

Oh Miss Shelby...how we love you! You bring so much fun and laughter into our family! We adore your little personality and can't believe how it is similar to ours! You are the best dog! We are so proud that you make friends with every dog/child/adult you come into contact with! You are the best babysitter...

...and we love that our friends will stop by just to say hi to YOU and play with you and your toys!

We think it's funny that we have had multiple friends just stop by and ask if they can take you on a walk!

You LOVE family cuddle time and cuddling in general. You will burrow in any blanket!

You are the best helper. You love playing broom hockey with daddy when he sweeps the porch!

You are a great protector {like from a big spider last night} and rarely bark.

You ADORE daddy and always have to know where he is!

Your playful disposition is a hoot! Playing in the leaves was so much fun with you this fall!

And this morning when we woke up to the first "sticking" snow fall you couldn't stop running around with your nose in it and eating it!

You aren't a picky eater and will finish anything off for us!

You are a sucker for car rides and love to hear "let's go"!

You know how to sit, stand, shake, lay, speak, and roll.

You know the words, walk, park, leash, outside, home, kennel, treat, eat, where's daddy/mommy, ball, snake, bone, go get it, up, good girl, and baby to name a few.

But must of all WE LOVE YOU!

Stake Conference

What a neat stake conference! The messages from

Elder Ronald A. Rasband

Sister Cheryl C. Lant

Elder M. Russell Ballard

and President Henry B. Eyring

Were truly amazing! Exactly what we were supposed to hear. We have been uplifted and edified!

New Favorite

Amazing Talent

I am in awe! These little girls are amazing!

Random Update Overload

I always laughed at people who said they lost their camera cords...well I sorta miss placed mine for a little while and I am so sorry for my negative thoughts towards all you nameless people! Since I finally came across it, here is an overload of random updates!

This adorable couple got married! This is Phil's little sister Malissa and her new husband Greg! Cool fact...they are both twins!

We went camping with some good friends over Labor Day weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the mountains and great company (no pictures)! Cool fact...Shelby LOVES to go camping!

We finished a simple but VERY long overdue project in our room! Cool fact...my friend Jill rocks vinyl hard core!

My grandma (Nanny) and aunt (Falene) came to visit for a few days! Falene made us a yummy frittata from our garden and Nanny spoiled me with this birthday present! She is always fostering my love for reading but she shouldn't be tempting me during a school semester! Cool fact...it has my pioneer ancestors in it!

The day after said family left we finally broke down and checked out the leak we had been hearing for a while. Needless to say here is the proof that it was a HUGE project and we had no water for days! I am blessed to have a hubby who can fix whatever problem comes our way (although plumbing is his least favorite)! True fact...this had nothing to do with THIS incident.

Thanks to my "mock" mommy next door I learned how to can! Phillip and I ended up canning 21 jars of pears, 5 jars of pear sauce w/ cinnamon (like applesauce), 32 jars of peaches, and 2 jars of salsa! Cool fact...my husband remembered to document this moment (although his photography skills need a little practice - sorry it's so blurry).

Phillip and Shelby like to go running every morning and on this particularly hectic day they went somewhere new and he lost his cell phone and Shelby thought rolling in cow poop would be awesome! Here's Phil's solution to cleaning up the yucky situation - but it was probably just an excuse to play with Shelby! Cool fact...an honest person with a 3 legged boxer found his phone!

Relief Society was a success! Our theme was "Stretch You Dollar" hence the reason I busted out our play money from Monopoly to make money tree center pieces! We had a great turn out and lots of awesome ideas on how to save money! Cool fact...having homemade Cafe Rio was hit!

Cool fact...we have Halloween decor up already!

We had two super fun couples from our ward over for Sunday dinner, then while the men were at a stake priesthood meeting the girls congregated at the Holmgren's house and when the men got back we all sat on the floor and had caramel popcorn and laughed and talked! Cool fact...Mindi makes the BEST caramel popcorn!

We found this little dude while mowing the lawn and weeding. Cool fact...we safely deposited him elsewhere.

P.S. It's pretty much autumn! The leaves on our trees are changing and we have had to cover our tomatoes at night because it's been at or under 32 degrees!