oh christmas tree

December? What the heck?! When did you get here? Didn't it just seem like thanksgiving till now went by so fast? I barley had time to breathe. My life consisted of homework, homework, and more homework. Grad school will suck the holiday life out of you! (just kidding nothing, I mean nothing could do that....I'm just too full of Christmas spirit). I'm excited for the christmas break because we're spending it in california with our families. (Yay!) The christmas tree pictured is the one at my in-laws house...those guys know how to party, I mean look at the size of that thing! So far we've had a rootbeer taste testing contest, nail party, and the most delicious beef stew ever.  Today we also had a little christmas party with my family. (Perks of having your families pretty much live next door). I love that our families live so close because we get to spend time with both and we are both exposed to each others holiday traditions. In my family its a tradition to have a tamale party around christmas! I love tamales and my aunt has the world's best recipe. We make about 200 easy and we are stuffed for days, not to mention all the leftovers ;) You know I just really love Christmas, such a special time. I love all the decorations and the warm fuzzy feeling I get while listening to Christmas music. Below are pictures of the beautiful, most ginormous poinsettia you ever did see and our tamale party in progress. (its a lot of work to make 200, but we're also crazy people...so there) Lastly is a picture of the mountains in utah on our first ski day of the season. Equally as beautiful as those tamales, I most definitely plan to get up to those mountains more this season. 

 

Enjoy these magical days right before Christmas! I mean they are the best, right? right??!

hello snow.

Hello snow. these pictures were taking a couple of weeks ago. we woke up to snow, real snow. thankfully it melted all away (because lets be honest i need fall to last at least a month longer), but when i first woke up and looked out the window i was stoked! something about the first snow is so magical, that's really the best word to explain it. someone must have invented the word magical just for snow. no, but seriously. think about it. 

well once it all melted away we decided that we couldn't wait so we drove up to the mountains to greet the snow. it was so beautiful, so serene. we pulled over at some spots and i took some pictures with my iphone (that explains why they are so blurry..work in progress). then we spent most of the time just driving up emigration canyon. have you been there? its beautiful no matter what season. then we had this crazy idea: we rolled the windows down, blasted the heater and turned up the celtic music. honestly celtic music is so good. it made us feel like we were in ireland or something... you know just living the good life with bangers and mash; nothing but our little cottage and sheep dog to keep us company in the cold winter weather. (okay day dream gone too far. noted) 

we rolled up our windows and headed home. that day was a good day. now please let it be fall as long as possible. thank you. 

hallo's ween

 Okay so this is days late but I had to share. Our nephew was so stoked to trick or treat and he loved it SO much he barfed right before we started. Below are pre-barf photos.

                                   ^^ this one he was just saying "ohh halloweeen"

He went as Mickey-Julian and boy does this kid sure know how to work the old ladies in our neighbor, some gave him little handfuls. A couple of houses and his bucket was filled. He loved it so much and we're pretty sure he now thinks 'please' and 'trick or treat' or interchangeable phrases and yield the same results. . . nice try mickey-julian.

Last but not least hunter and i dressed up for a friend's halloween party. it was too much fun. can you guess who we are?

Welcome November, welcome. 

love. e x p l o s i o n.

hugs. BIG hugs. ha ha  i loves these pictures!! our nephew has been super huggy lately and he's really into telling us that he loves us (we think its because he likes to say L words). he really extenuates the lllllllllove part. which is okay with us. the other day we were sitting in church with this kid and hunter is just holding him on his lap. then all of the sudden julian looks up at hunter and holds his cheeks between his hands and just beams at him (i mean really just shows all his gappy little baby teeth and squints his little baby blue eyes) and hunter just smiles back... and that smile just set a chain reaction of hugs, but not just any hugs it went from soft hugs/long hugs/long hugs + long sighs to squeezes! the only think i could compare it to is Elmyra (you know that red headed cartoon girl who loves animals so much that she practically squeeze them to death, come on, you know who i'm talking about). ha ha so of course i pull at my phone and i'm dying. i can't see the pictures i'm taking because my eyes are watering like crazy and i'm using my free hand to wipe my eyes/cover my mouth because i'm snorting. its so weird/funny/unexpected. oh gosh, we SO love this kid. what a character. 

can't wait to trick or treat with these babes. 

Popcorn Balls

i know what your thinking. yes finally. this recipe is from my mother-in-law's mother. so you know its legit, right? if you want to impress your husband, boyfriend, children (i know you do), neighbors, in-laws that you are the classiest homemaker around, this will give you the gold my friend.

popcorn balls is our yearly fall tradition. we make them often and we make many. (now look at the picture! you are SOLD).

Recipe (only a handful of people know this...so be grateful i share. and please share, share... so you aren't only the most amazing popcorn ball maker but the most generous giver around!)

• 1 cup popcorn kernels (now people this might be a deal breaker, but you need an air popper)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 TBLS vinegar 
• 1 TBLS butter
• 2 tsp vanilla 

-Pop popcorn kernels (1 cup) with air popper and place in a big bowl (biggest bowl you have, seriously) 

-Mix sugar, molasses, water and vinegar in a pot and place on stove and turn on to medium-high. Possibly another deal break, folks you need a candy thermometer (buy at any grocery store). Place thermometer in in pot of molasses goodness, wait till it reaches the "soft crack" (makes you feel like walt from B.B.) approximately 272 degrees. 

-Once its at "soft crack" add butter and vanilla and mix, mix, mix like crazy...it will bubble and you will feel like you are making witches brew. Take it off the stove and continue to stir. 

-You might need a helper at this part, mostly likely an adult cuz this stuff is hot. Now dump your molasses goodness into your bowl of popcorn and mix, mix, mix. Make sure the goo gets all over your popcorn (it usually goes straight to the bottom) but get a rubber spatula and get the good stuff. it should start to look like one giant popcorn ball, if it doesn't keep mixing. (you'll get there!)

-Now take your bowl of popcorn/molasses goodness over to the sink.(clear that counter space, and put down wax paper, or just a plate to your balls on) Run cold water. Here is how we make the individual popcorn balls. get your hands wet. the cold water on your hands will combat the hot goo of the popcorn balls  making it easier to mold them. get them wet. grab a handful of popcorn goo, and with both hands start to make a ball shape (its okay to feel like you are crunching the popcorn together, because you are). if it gets too hot, place that hand under cold water and keep going!! 

-Repeat, repeat, repeat. till you have made all the popcorn goo into nice popcorn balls. Now serve. And enjoy the praise you get from admirers. 

Have a fabulous weekend. 

pumpkin philosophy

today we stop by a little local pumpkin patch and i just couldn't help it i had to pull out my iPhone to capture this babe. its funny because this kid isn't even mine (i don't even have any! this is my nephew) but i love him so so much. his little face lit up when he saw these orange beauties and he started to count '1,2,2,2,3...' and i just started to melt. i would do anything for this kid. gosh even posting these pictures just makes me think about families. family is the most important thing. for me, life is about building relationships. getting to know people on a personal level, making connections. we are more alike than you would think. to sum it up for me (and you save you time from my heart spilling speeches about humanity): family is everything. and pumpkins helped me remember that today. 

p.s. this song also sums up how i feel about life like 80% of time. enjoy no but seriously enjoy life

babes

^^ so excited to see this babe this week

this is a picture of our nephew. if you can't tell we love him. more importantly i love that hunter loves him. to some people this is a picture of a boyish-man kissing a baby, but to me this is a picture of a man meeting a baby for the first time and loving him. loving him so much that he had to hold him, pinch his cheeks and squeeze him like a little kitty. (isn't it funny how the idea of family can do that to us or maybe its just the power of baby cuteness) whatever it may be, i love it. i loved this man before i even knew he could love babies. when i see this picture my hearts grows. not just because he loves that little guy now but because it represents the love he will have for our future children. i am total confidence he will be a great dad. (and you may ask, babies already? but 4 years has been a long time coming...) and even though we may not be ready right now, it will be soon. there is a time and a place for everything. can't wait and i'm not even pregnant... baby hungry? oh yeah. but who wouldn't be if you had this one? love that he loves them too.

iphone love

^^ snap shots from my iphone

remembering and the weekend

I was driving through our neighbor in the wee hours of the morning on wednesday and I saw all these boys putting up flags in everyones grass and I thought "wait wait what's happen" and then it hit me. 9/11. How could I have forgotten? 

one of my professors mention something interesting in class that day. he said that seventeen year olds now don't remember 9/11, weird to think about that? just like your parents remembered where they were when JFK was shot. i completely remember where i was when that first plane hit the twin towers. sometimes it seems unreal that a terrorist attack could have happen on our soil. not only do we remember the victims of 9/11 but we also remember the heroes. 

i am so grateful for the men and woman who voluntarily risk their lives to protect our rights and freedoms that i enjoy each day. 

enjoy your weekend and hold your loved ones close 

inspiration

ever find those films, music, poems, talks that are just so inspirational? they leave you with that warm fuzzy feeling. and make you feel okay about life and who you are and who you want to be. well this is one of them. its a ted talk, so fair warning. but she speaks a lot of truth. enjoy.

california.capemay.dc.newyork.

Here are some snap shots of photos i just love! this was our trip to california, cape may, dc and new york.. oh and we also visited canada even though i don't have pictures of that yet. i'm not very good at organizing pictures, they are just scattered throughout my iphone and computer and email, sorry. note to self: organize. but anyway you get the idea. our trip was most about visiting family. we love our families. why is it so much more fun to do things with family? but we did make time to do some sightseeing. such a wonderful, much needed trip for hunter and i.

^^ spending time with family at great little cafes, seeing our adorable nephew, visiting Arlington Cemetery (so cool), birdwatching and house hunting (i wish, most idyllic houses on the block in cape may, NJ)



^^ Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

^^ John Lennon memorial in central park...beautiful mosaic and extremely crowded. some one was playing imagine while we walked up...it was a little sentimental





^^ central park and st. thomas cathedral...such a beautiful building



^^ subway riding. it was so much fun and surprisingly easy to use.

can't wait to go back to new york. probably my favorite place we visited.

OhHappyDay

Here's to new chapters to life. Grad school starts next week for me and I couldn't be more excited/nervous/am i sure i made the right decision, these all mix together. But one thing I feel good about is moving forward with my life. I would much rather be in school than working and getting paid ten bucks an hour at the moment. I love school. (i'm totally that kid that loved going back to school shopping, making new friends, buying back to school clothes, organizing my pencils/office...i've always been that kid) Some things never change. Overall I feel good and I feel that this is the right thing to do. I love social work. I really can't imagine myself doing anything else... except maybe being a mom (someday). I also feel that grad school isn't a means to an end, its not a hoop I have to jump through. I want to learn... I'm eager to learn. Here's to new chapters of life. Cheers.

oh and below are photos from our california trip. I've come to love salt lake city, but california will always, always have a special place in my heart.

new love affair.

so hunter and i have been on a month long vacation break and its finally coming to a close. we've been to cali, new jersey, DC, new york and finally canada. i just love traveling. this was my first trip to the east coast and it was fabulous. i just found everything about it so enchanting. (cheese please?) but honest. i loved it. i could live in new york (yes, yes i could). maybe not forever but a couple of years. yes. yes. please yes.
i just loved taking it all in, the noise of the cars, people buzzing about, good smells, bad smells, beautiful giant buildings. maybe i loved it so much because being in the midst of hustle and bustle i felt like a little ant... like a grateful ant. i just felt grateful for all the good things in my life. (weird, i know and i'm probably not explaining it right). but however that feeling came to me i'm glad it did.

new york, i'm in love with you.

Hooray for New Things

Okay I've swear this is my last update.