Festival of the Trees

Last night Eric and I went with our really good friends Kirsten and Aaron to the Festival of the trees. We went last year with them too. We started the night out by going out for our traditional dinner: Five Guys! It was delicious as ever. It took us forever to get there though. We ate at the one up in Sandy because it's right by the Expo Center. Apparently everyone and their dog was going to the Festival of the Trees too, because there was a lot of traffic. Well we finally got there after our delicious meal. There is so much to see there. They have little performances by dance groups and things, gingerbread houses, wreaths, quilts, Christmas trees, and small trees. We stick to the gingerbread houses and the big trees. It took us two hours to get through those, and I was tired. Last year when we went, Lincoln was just a couple months old. He is now 15 months or something like that. He was so good. He just sat in the stroller looking at everything around him. He especially likes the trees that had Mickey Mouse. There were actually a few that did. He is such a cute little kid. Anyways, we walked around looking at all of the pretty trees. Some people come up with some pretty cute stuff. The whole point of this event is to raise money for the Children's Hospital. People decorate the trees, and then donate them, and some things that go around the tree to the festival, and then they sell them and give the money to the hospital. I think it's a great way to raise money, and it's fun! Thanks for the fun night guys!

Vegas

So as I mentioned in my two previous posts, Eric and I went down to Vegas with my brother Jason to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. We had a good time. We ate LOTS of food, watched football, ate LOTS of food, went shopping, visited with family, went down to the strip, oh and did I mention that we ate LOTS of food? It was great. I didn't take any pictures of Thanksgiving Day, but my grandma and mom made a delicious meal. My sister and I helped a little bit too. It was a success. Oh, and I learned how to cook a turkey. I was really intimidated before, but I now realize that it is not all that hard. Thanks for showing me mom and grandma! I also realized that yams are not all that bad. I would NOT eat that growing up, but recently I have liked whipped yams. I guess your tastes change as you get older. Anyways, on Friday night my family went down to the strip. IT WAS CRAZY down there. I have NEVER seen so many people. We had a hard time finding a parking spot. Here are some pictures.

The Bellagio:



Gambling (we each put in a whole dollar. We were only going to do quarters, but they only accept cash:)


Me at the Bellagio water show:

Birthday Continued

So I said in my last post that I would go into more detail about Eric's birthday, so here we go. For about a couple of months, all Eric said he wanted for his birthday was Joe's Crab Shack. We were going to be in Vegas on his actual birthday, so I took him there two days before. My little brother came with us too. The food was delicious as always. Eric got to get hush puppies, which made him very happy. They sang him happy birthday, and every time they were supposed to say his name, they made him say, "I'm a pretty, pretty princess" while wearing the following:


It was pretty amusing. On the day of his actual birthday, we started out in St. George. We had stayed at the Baker's house. They are good friends of ours. Eric taught them on his mission and spent a lot of time with them. Sister Baker make Eric a delicious casserole for breakfast. Then we left to get on the road to Vegas. Before we got to my grandparents house, we had to take a little side trip because a certain two people got in trouble with the law, and got sent here:




I had to go bail them out. It was quite interesting... Yeah, kidding. I'm sure you got that though. Actually Brother Baker has been the assistant superintendent over a detention center that was being built in Vegas. It's pretty much done, so on our way down to Vegas, he had us stop by to give us a tour of the center. I had never been to "prison" before and I never plan on it. It was pretty interesting to see what everything was like, and to see how much "privacy" the inmates get. It was also interesting to see how they control the doors. Those suckers are thick!

Later that day, after we got to my grandparents house, we sang to Eric. My mom, grandma, and aunt made Eric a cake that looked like a target. It was cute.


Then Eric opened some of his presents. It was a pretty fun day. Happy Birthday again Eric. I love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC!

Today is Eric's 26th Birthday! He has had a fun filled day so far. Details to come later. We are currently in Vegas for Thanksgiving so Eric is getting to celebrate with a lot of my family. Lucky guy! I am so grateful that Eric was born 26 years ago today! I love him and am thankful for all that he does for us. I posted 25 things I love about him last year. I am going to spare all of you that list this year, but will let you know that Eric is a wonderful person and I am so lucky to have married him. I love you Eric!

Well, I tried to upload a picture of the birthday boy, but the internet is too slow here. So, pictures to come later too.

Houston!

I have been such a slacker this month! On October 30th I flew out to Houston to visit with my brother Chris and his family. Kristen just had a baby (that makes 3 for them; 2 boys and 1 girl). Me, my parents and Kristen's parents all went out there to see baby Abbie blessed at church. Eric wasn't able to come because of school. I got there late at about 8 or so on Friday night. We stayed up until about 12 just catching up. Even the boys got to stay up late. Lucky kids!

Saturday we were supposed to go to Tyler's soccer game, but the fields were too wet so the game was canceled. Instead we went out to lunch at Potbelly's. It's this sandwich place that they have out in DC that I love! It was delicious. After that we all went and saw Astro Boy. It was a cute little movie. I sat right between Matt and Tyler and it was so fun to hear their little laughs and comments about the movie. I have the cutest nephews ever! After the movie we went back to Chris and Kristen's house to get the boys ready for trick-or-treating. Tyler was a race car driver and Matt was a cowboy. They looked great. The people on the cul-de-sac that Chris and Kristen live on all get together to have pizza and treats at the end of the street. They also set all of the bowls of candy out so that the kids coming around just go to the end of the street, grab a piece of candy from each bowl and then move on. It was pretty convenient. Anyways, we went and ate our dinner there before heading out for trick-or-treating. All of us walked along with the boys. It was definitely a different experience to be on the other side of trick-or-treating. I was always the kid, now I was the adult. It was fun to see how excited the little kids were. It was a fun night.

The next morning we all got ready to go to church for Abbie's blessing. She wore the same outfit that Kristen wore when she was blessed. It was cute. After church we all went back to Chris and Kristen's house to eat delicious burgers and just hang out. I got to play with the boys some more. It's always nice to be with family.

Monday Chris had to work and Tyler had to go to school. Matt had a birthday party to go to for a few hours too, so during that time I went with my parents to this mall in The Woodlands that's on a river. It was nice to walk around in the warm weather. We also went and got some BBQ. Those who know me know that I love BBQ, and so I had to try some Texas BBQ. It was pretty good. After hanging out a little more with my family, it was time for me to head back to Provo. I wasn't exactly ready for my little vacation to end, but it was sure fun. I only wish that everyone could have been there. I think Eric and I are going to have to take a visit out there sometime! I'm glad I got to finally meet baby Abbie. She is such a cute little baby!

Matt the Cowboy:


Tyler the Race Car Driver:


The Family after church:


Kristen holding Abbie:


Me with Matt and Tyler and the soccer balls that I gave them:


Me and my parents walking by the river:

Pumpkins!

Last night Eric and I carved our Halloween pumpkins! We carved pumpkins when we were engaged but we didn't do it last year. I don't know why we didn't, but that means that this was our first time carving pumpkins married. How cute! We didn't have time to go to a pumpkin patch this time, so we got the pumpkins from the store. Not as much fun, but very convenient. Eric set up our kitchen table to make it pumpkin proof and then he cut off the tops of the pumpkins. I really don't like the inside of pumpkins, but I am happy to report that I cleaned out my own pumpkin. It wasn't so bad. It was a fun little date followed by lighting the pumpkins, putting them outside of our door and then eating a pumpkin shaped peanut butter cup (my favorite!) I like doing things like this with Eric. Thanks for setting it all up Eric. I love you!

Eric with the pumpkins:

Me with the pumpkins. Don't look too close. I was at the gym ealier:

Our pumpkins glowing outside:

PEACH COBBLER

For about two years now, Eric and I were supposed to make peach cobbler with our very good friends Kirsten and Aaron. Aaron had gotten a dutch oven for his birthday or something, and we kept talking about going, but our schedules were too busy or it was too cold. There was always something keeping us from going. Well, we finally planned on going and we actually were able to. None of us had actually made something in a dutch oven before, so I called my parents, who are dutch oven experts, and got some tips. I read through some recipes online as well to see what other people did. Before we had cobbler though, we had tin foil dinners. Those are always fun to make, and even more fun to eat. I've only done them twice, but they turned out pretty good. I would probably add a few more things next time I do it. While our tin foil dinners were cooking, we prepped the peach cobbler. Most recipes call for store bought canned peaches, but we were using home canned peaches. I canned them myself! Apparently home canned peaches have more juice in them, so I had to pour some of the juice out. Once I did that I poured some cinnamon-sugar on top, put a package of yellow cake on top of that, and then I poured some Sprite on top. Aaron heated up the charcoal, put some in the fire pit, put the dutch oven on top, and then put more charcoal on top. After about 45 minutes it was done! It turned out really good. There were a few things that I would do different next time like pour out more peach juice and pour more Sprite on top. The bottom was too juicy and the top was a little dry, but they canceled each other out. It was really good. First time success. I hope we do it again. Oh, and it was also Lincoln's first time to see a camp fire. I think he liked it a lot, which scared Kirsten. He is such a cute little kid. I think he had fun too. Let's make cobbler again guys! Next time we'll have to do it while camping though!

The tin foil dinners cooking:

Hanging out around the fire:

The peach cobbler cooking:

Eric and Aaron eating dinner:

Kirsten, Lincoln and I eating dinner:

The finished peach cobbler:

Taste Of Home Cooking School

For my birthday my wonderful Mother-in-Law got me tickets to the Taste of Home Cooking school. My friend Lisa came along with me. I had never heard of it before, so for those of you who haven't heard of it either, it is a show where a cook stands in front of a crowd of people a cooks a few recipes. While they are cooking these recipes, you have a recipe book with the recipes in front of you so you can follow along. They give you a whole bunch of cooking tips and also have a lot of prize giveaways. Unfortunately neither Lisa nor I won anything. I was kinda sad. They were giving away the things they had make and the dishes that came along with them. There was one thing that I wanted to win so bad, and when it came time to give that away, the person who won had a name that started with an "A". I was so sure it was going to be me. Anyways, the tickets that I got came along with a gift card to a restaurant at Thanksgiving Point(that's where the cooking show was at.) Lisa and I went a little early to walk around and see the vendors who were there before the show, and then went to eat at the restaurant. It was delicious! After we ate we went straight to the show. We got lucky because we were VIP's, which means we got to sit in the front row. The regular tickets are for first come first serve seats. It was nice to not have to save a seat. Lisa and I had a great time. If you ever have a chance to go, you should. Thanks Patty!

Our yummy dinner:

Lisa and I waiting for the show to start:

Our view of the stage:

The view looking back:

One Quarter of a Century

That's how old I am now! My birthday was September 22nd. It was a very fun day. The night before Eric took me out to dinner at Red Robin (I had a free birthday burger there). He invited a few of my closest friends to come which is always great. The day of my actual birthday I had to work, but it was ok because we always have birthday parties at work. The theme of my party was "The Ultimate Cake-Off" because I pretty much became obsessed with cake shows when I was sitting at home watching TV all day after my surgery. Everything we ate was a cake somehow We had cupcakes, crab cakes, corn cake(like corn bread) and then we all had a personal cake that we had to decorate ourselves. That was pretty fun. After work I went home and waited for Eric to get home from school. I got to open cards from everyone who sent them (THANKS!) and then Eric took me out to dinner at the Chef's Table. That is this pretty nice restaurant here in Provo that neither Eric or I had been to before. It was DELICIOUS! After we finished eating dinner, Eric pulled out a box from his pocket. I opened it and inside were a pair of diamond earrings! They are one carat each and so pretty! Ha, got you there. They are NOT one carat each, not even combined do they equal one. They are just little, but they are SO pretty. I love them. Eric knows how to work the jewelers to get good deals. That's a good skill to have! After leaving the restaurant we went home to eat cake. Eric had bought this huge cake but since we had hung out with friends the night before, I thought it was just going to be the two of us eating this cake. Turns out he had invited a whole lot of people over to eat cake and celebrate! It was a lot of fun to see some friends that I hadn't seen in awhile. Thanks Eric for making my 25th birthday great and to everyone who called/wrote me birthday wishes! It was a wonderful birthday.

Me and my co-workers with our personally decorated cakes:

The Birthday Girl at The Chef's Table:

A few pictures from my little party:

Eric and BYU Football

Eric has an internship with BYU Sports Communications for this semester and then next semester. For this internship he is the Sports Information Director. He sounds like a big deal! Anyways, every intern gets assigned a sport, but then they have to help out with the two major sports: Football and Basketball. This means that he gets to go to EVERY home game, sit in the press box, eat Tucanos (a Brazilian Grill), answer phones for people who call in to check on the game (ex: ESPN), go to the press conference afterward and then send quotes to people who need them. Not a bad deal I would say. So far he has had a lot of fun. Oh, and he gets parking pass so he can park right there in the stadium. Lucky guy. Here are some pictures of him before he went to the first BYU home game.


This is his press pass. If you can see in this one, our last name is spelled wrong! That happens on occasion. Our last name can be tough!

Tonsils

On September 3rd I got my tonsils taken out at the Outpatient Center here in Provo. That was quite the experience. I had been having problems with my tonsils for awhile, and they have been big my whole life, so I went to the doctor in July just to see what was going on. The doctor said I had tonsillitis and that it was my choice if I wanted to get them taken out or not. He did say that the older you get, the more painful it will be. He also said that as an adult, it would hurt much worse than if I had gotten them out as a child. Yikes! He also said that my tonsils would not get better but he couldn't promise me that they wouldn't get worse. Eric and I have pretty good insurance right now, so I just decided to go ahead and get it over with. We had to be at the hospital at 7:45AM. I don't think I actually went into the operating room until 9:30. All I remember is a doctor saying they were giving me a relaxant and then I woke up in the recovery room with very chapped lips and I was SO thirsty. After eating an popsicle and a pudding, they took me back to see Eric. I stayed at the hospital for a little while longer and then went home. I think I slept pretty much the whole day. I was on Percocet and that stuff makes you very sleepy! I was only on it for 3 days though because it ended up making me sick, and throw up. Therefore, I had to go on Extra Strength Tylenol. That stuff is not nearly as helpful! Anyways, I stayed home from work for a week and a half. Eric took great care of me. He tried to make me food that I could eat. That wasn't much. I lost a few pounds because it hurt too much to eat anything. I was craving a hamburger the whole time. Things are much better now. I only feel a little pain when I yawn now, and that actually will happen for a few months. It's weird to look in my throat and not see two large tonsils. Eric and I didn't get any pictures of this experience, but when I got back to work, my boss made me this cute candy poster. It was nice of her. I sure like candy! (So I just looked at the preview and it's really hard to read it. Pretty much it's just using candy bar names in a sentence.)

Introducing Abigail Tayler DeLange

My first niece was born on 8/31/09 at 10:21 AM. She weighed in at 8lbs. 8oz. and was 20.5". I have only seen a few pictures so far and am waiting anxiously for more. She looks adorable. My little nephew Matt started to cry at the hospital when they couldn't take her home. He was saying that there wasn't any milk at the hospital for her to drink. Cute! She is home now and I'm sure my brother and sister-in-law are having a fun time getting used to a family of 5! My mom actually flew out there yesterday to visit and to help. Congratulations Chris and Kristen. Eric and I can't wait to meet Abigail!

Here is the only picture I could get. I will post more when I get them:

A Visit From Eric's Mom

One week before school started up again for Eric, his mom decided to come for a visit. We hadn't seen her since March, so it was good to see her. We had a lot of fun sitting around our table talking. I heard a lot of great stories about Eric as a child. He was a bundle of energy. That's what I get to look forward to when we have children! :) We ate out at a lot of great restaurants and we took her to watch the people battle it out at the park on Thursday nights. I don't think I have ever blogged about that. That's a story that will have to come later. We also went and saw GI Joe. It's always fun to have family come and visit. I wish we lived closer to all of our family so we didn't have to go so long between visits. Thanks for coming to visit!

Our First Big Purchase

Eric and I like to go to the RC Wiley Outlet store and walk around to see if there are any great deals. In July we decided that we wanted to buy a chair and a half. A few of our friends have them and they are just so comfortable. One day we decided to go to the real RC Wiley store to look around. The only chair we found was part of this great furniture set that Eric and I were sitting on just dreaming about the day when we can have nice furniture. Well the next week-end we happened to go to the outlet store again, just walking around, when SURPRISE, that couch was there! It is a really big, really nice couch and we couldn't believe it was there. We looked at the price and it was 50% off! We thought there had to be something seriously wrong with the couch. Turns out there was a little tear that they fixed. You can hardly see it. The sales guy told us that he would give us $30 off of the already listed price if we picked it up ourselves and then he would throw in a free scotchguard. Great deal! The only problem is that we don't have a truck and neither do any of our friends. We went back the next day to get it with the plan of asking if we could borrow a cart, because we only live 3 blocks away. They let us, so Eric and I pushed this large couch down the street. People were staring at us. It was pretty funny. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures. I wish I would have. Eric and our neighbor Mike brought the couch up to our apartment and it barely fit! It will be interesting to get it out when we move. A week later we decided to buy the ottoman that goes with it. I'm glad we did. It made it that much better. Eric and I are happy with out purchase. It is so much better than that futon!

Utah County Fair and Lincoln's First Birthday

This Saturday was a fun filled day for Eric and I. In the afternoon we went to the Utah County Fair with Ryan, Amber, Steve, Rachel, Jason and Chris. We walked around for a little bit looking at the booths and the animals. We walked around looking for some good food, but were a little disappointed when they didn't have Turkey legs or funnel cakes. What fair doesn't have funnel cakes? We got some food and sat around and talked for awhile. Then we went and watched the tractor pull. This was the higlight of the day! Well, not really but it was definitely something that I had never seen before. We watched it for a little while and then left. It was pretty fun. Here are some pictures:

The start of one of the pulls: Chris showing us how exciting it is: A picture of one of the tractors and the awesome guy who drove it. I was going to post a video instead but it wouldn't work:

Following the fair, Eric and I went to a park in Orem to celebrate our buddy Lincoln's FIRST birthday!! Lincoln is Kirsten and Aaron's little boy. They grilled up some delicious burgers and everyone sat around and talked. We had met most of the people there before so it was fun to see them again. The party was jungle themed, so Kirsten got jungle decorations and make a cute lion cake. She did a great job. Lincoln got to open some presents and then got to eat a piece of chocolate cake. Kirsten stripped him down to his diaper and then let him go to town. It was pretty cute. After the party, Eric and I went over to Kirsten and Aaron's and hung out for the rest of the night. We love hanging out with them. They are great friends. We are also glad that we got to celebrate Lincoln's first birthday. I can't believe how fast kids grow up.

My New Favorite Song

I really like music and I have a new favorite song every couple of weeks. This is my current favorite song. I think it is the cutest song. If you don't know it, you need to listen to it. It is "Then" by Brad Paisley. If you aren't a country fan, then just pretend that you are for about five minutes and give this song a try. It is a little sappy, but who doesn't need to listen to a good sappy song every now and then.? I have pasted the lyrics below but they don't do the song justice. Go ahead and just listen to it. Trust me...

"Then" by Brad Paisley

I remember, trying not to stare the night that I first met you
You had me mezmorized
And three weeks later, in the front porch light
taking forty-five minutes to kiss goodnight
I hadn't told you yet
but I thought I loved you then

Chorus

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
Like a river meets the sea,
stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then

And i remember, taking you back to right where I first met you,
You were so surprised
There were people around, but I didn't care
Got down on one knee right there once again,
I thought I loved you then

Repeat Chorus

I could just see you, with a baby on the way
And I could just see you, when your hair is turning gray
What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more
But I've said that before

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
We'll look back someday, at this moment that we're in
And I'll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then
And I thought I loved you then

Visit from Friends

Earlier this month, Eric's good friend Jacob was in Utah to visit his family. Eric and Jacob were mission companions for almost 11 months. His family came in from Indiana to visit, and since Eric is friends with the whole family, we got to hang out with all of them. Eric hadn't seen Jacob since he got married two years ago. Jacob and his wife Nia were living in Hawaii, and then they moved to Tonga for a few months for him to do an intership. Nia is from Tonga so they went and stayed with her family. Just about 4 months ago, they had a baby. His name is Viliami and he is a cute little guy. When Eric and Jacob were serving together, they taught the Baker family. They are both very good friends with this family. Jacob hadn't seen them for a few years so they came up from St. George to visit. We all went up to Salt Lake because Nia had never been to Utah. We took her to temple sqaure, on a tour of the conference center, and then we had lunch at "The Garden", this nice restaurant on the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was really good. After we did of all this, we all headed back to Provo to meet up with some other mission friends at the Park. It was fun to get a whole bunch of people together to just hang out. After spending some time at the park, the Baker's had to leave and then we all went to see Harry Potter. It was my second time, and I loved it. The next day Eric and I were able to spend the whole day with Jacob's family. We ate a lot of food, play some games and just had a fun time. I'm glad that Eric was able to see Jacob. They talk on the phone every once in awhile, but it is so much better to be able to see someone. Jacob and Nia are living in Indiana now while Jacob is in grad school, so hopefully we'll be able to see them some more. Now enjoy some pictures:

What we've been up to lately (aka what i've actually taken pictures of)

Having mystery dinners: (you select your meal from a menu that just has numbers)



Eating at Joe's Crab Shack: (I wouldn't do this one very often. It's a bit pricy, but delicious)




Visiting our friends Kirsten, Aaron and Lincoln: (this was the only picture I took. Isn't he cute?)


Eating at Marley's inside of Harley-Davidson:


Buying Eric new shoes: (he desperately needed them.)


Bowling:



If there is one thing you have learned about us from this post, it's that we like to eat! Well, we actually don't eat out as much as it seems, but for some reason I like to take pictures at restaurants. Eric and I have been having a lot of fun going to the pool and hanging out with our friends this past month. We really are so very lucky to have so many great friends who live by us and like to have fun.