Fabulous Fall Date

My husband has been putting up with my extreme giddiness and happiness over the arrival of fall. I love the decorating and the pretty leaves changing colors and the wonderful, slightly cooler temperatures. But along with being giddy, I also get strange urges whenever fall arrives. Suddenly, I have a strong craving for donuts and apple juice (not really sure why). I also have been pestering Brian to take me to pumpkin patches and corn mazes. Also, I start needing to watch my autumn time movies.

On Saturday Brian surprised me with a surprise "Autumn" date, incorporating all of the things I've been wanting to do. He took me to a haunted corn maze. That farm also sold pumpkins, so we chose out the best ones we could find. Then we went home and watched 'Clue' as we carved our pumpkins and ate donuts and apple juice. Our friends, Brandon and Marci, joined us for the last bit. It was so much fun!

We put a tarp out on our white rug since we don't really have a kitchen table! And, yes, that is Barack Obama's head above our tv. Brian bought the mask as part of his halloween costume- and what better place to keep it, right?!

Brian's Pumpkin:
My Pumpkin:
The last part of our night was spent standing outside in the parking lot as we tried to get a perfect picture of our jack-o-lanterns up on our balcony without using the flash. =)

Missing This Place

I have an unhealthy obsession with libraries (passed on from my mother I'm sure). I go to the library about once a week, sometimes to browse books, sometimes to check out old movies, sometimes to scope out the magazines I'm too cheap to buy, and sometimes just to read in a quiet corner.

I've discovered the Clearfield and (the much-nicer) Syracuse libraries. But every time I go to them, I come home missing the Provo City Library. That was one of the things I was sad to leave behind when I moved. The Children's Section was my absolute favorite. The whole place was wonderful, though. And I miss it.

I lived close enough to see it from my apartment:
(yeah, just a little obsessed!)

Cute Husband

Yesterday, the 2nd grade went on a field trip to Heritage Park (the This Is the Place Monument). They have a whole pioneer village and took the kids and rotations to the different buildings and taught them about life in the pioneer times. It was very fun (and I highly recommend it to any Utah teachers who might read this).

Brian accompanied us on the field trip as a chaperon. It was so fun! He instantly won over all of my kids. On the bus, he would raise his arms as we went up or down any hills, pretending he was on a roller-coaster. He had the whole bus doing it with him! Then he named his group 'The Chipmunks' and they made up their own little dance. All the other kids were asking to be chipmunks too. All day, he was entertaining the kids and making them laugh. It was so fun!

Merry Christmas! What?!

This is what we woke up to this morning:

Pretty sure I won't be riding my bike tomorrow . . .

To bike, or not to bike . . .

Today, I rode my bike to/from work. My school is just under 2 miles away from our house, so I thought it was no big deal. But I'm still undecided as to whether I'll continue this bike-riding thing. And since I lived for years with a roommate who thrived on pro/con lists, I've decided to make this one and hopefully figure it out:

RIDING A BIKE PROS ...
1. Saves gas $ (which actually totals about $2 per day)
2. I might possibly get back in shape; fingers crossed.
3. Tree-huggers will like me (with my <$2 of gas saved roundtrip)
4. The ride home is easy, practically no pedaling!
5. It's nice to be outside in the perfect autumn weather.

RIDING A BIKE CONS ...
1. I'm not in really great shape. I got winded on an incline that I actually never noticed was there while driving a car.
2. My route is on a stupid busy main street and I am certain that every single car I pass is full of people pointing and laughing.
3. My teacher wardrobe doesn't exactly match my bike. I think I look out of place (thus encouraging the pointing and laughing).
4. The absolute WORST "con" is that my school only has students who walk or ride bikes (no buses). This morning, I ended up riding the last 4-5 blocks to school with a little girl who was in my class last year and her brother. Yeah, that looks professional! (but they did show me a nice shortcut!)

I still have no idea if I'll ride my bike again tomorrow. What would YOU do? Honestly.

Movie Recommendation

Last night we rented the movie, "Leatherheads." We loved it! I loved the old black-and-white-movie feeling-- the music, the clothes, the whole style really. Brian loved that it was an all-star cast and it was quicker-paced than an "old" movie- also that it wasn't black and white! We both loved the wit! It had a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor. We'll definitely be buying this one!

How Cool!

Yesterday I was playing with my camera-- mainly my telephoto lens. Check out the difference in these shots! They're taken from the same place; the only thing that changed was my manual focus. I'm pretty sure this is very basic stuff. But hey, I'm easily amused!

Joe's Valley

Last weekend, Brian and I packed everything up and headed on a camping/climbing trip to Joe's Valley (south of Manti) with our friends, Nathan and Shar. Here are some pics from our trip . . .




Nathan is a butcher, so we always eat really well when we hang out with them!

This is my one and only climb from the trip-- the rest of the time I was the photographer.
Here's another picture of my handsome husband doing what he loves:

Is It Just Me?

Does anyone else get really embarrassed passing all your neighbors as you're returning home from Sam's Club, carrying an extremely large supply of toilet paper? I passed 2 neighbors as I packed it from my car to our condo tonight. Plus there are all those other neighbors who I'm sure were watching me out their windows, pointing and laughing!

Oh well- I guess I shouldn't complain. It was so much worse when I lived in Provo. Each time I bought a gigantic pack of toilet paper, I would inevitably run into a dozen or so cute boys who lived at my complex as I scrambled to the apartment! Wow. That was embarrassing.

Our New Toy

And by "ours," I really mean "Brian's"

We went out on Saturday morning to try it out around our condo. I liked it- but it's more an "I'll-ride-it-2-or-3-times-a-year" kind of like. Whereas Brian has a much more sincere interest. He even rode it to the grocery store last night to pick up some extra things for dinner!

Isn't he a stud?