Peter Pan & The Lost Boys

Happy Halloween from me and my roommates, Peter Pan & The Lost Boys!

We didn't go to any fancy parties... but we had fun dressing up anyway. We even got RJ to dress up as Rufio. BANGARANG!!! I'm not sure why Rufio has hippy hair... but whatever. I love themed costumes and this was a fun theme. Although I wonder if it would have looked better if I did the PJ onesie like Allison. Her's turned out so cute. One day when I have a family... I'm totally doing coupled and family themed costumes. I love dressing up!

I thought it all turned out cute. Here are our pictures.

Penny made the cutest Peter Pan.

Allison and I were so excited to be Lost Boys. We bought fur on Amazon. We made pretty cute Lost Boys.

 I loved that RJ joined in on the fun too... even though he didn't get the hair quite right. He had never seen hook before. We will give him a pass since he grew up in the Philippines watching Dragon Ball Z. He did end up watching it before he dressed up as Rufio.

Like I said, we didn't really go to any parties this year. We went trick or treating, but for canned goods to give to the food bank. So we did that... either way, it is always fun to dress up. Glad we did. My roommates are fun.

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This week I am thankful for my co-chair. I'm not sure I would have the motivation to put into activities if he wasn't super great and on top of things and putting in an equal amount of work. The more we work together, the more I like him and just think he is the best. I think we will have a lot of fun working together which makes the calling SO much easier.

This last week has been pretty busy. Busy at work, busy trying to get ready for Halloween. Busy still trying to figure out what car I want. Busy with new guys.... just busy.

I still am not positive on what car I want to get, but I think I have narrowed it down. I test drove another car today. I liked it. It's smaller than what I have been looking at, but it seems to make more sense for just me. My goal is to have my new car by the end of November. I want it before Winter comes and I have to drive in the snow.

I did hip hop with my friend again on my lunch break today. It is fun.... makes the time go by way faster. Exercise is just way more enjoyable when you think it is fun to do. I can't say that about most exercise. ha ha. Sad. I wish I loved it. At least I still do it regardless.

I have been watching more Halloween movies this year than I do most years. I like it. I just like being festive in general. My roommates and I all watched "Children of the Corn" together. I have heard about it for so long but had never seen it. None of us had. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be... maybe because it is so old. It was still pretty good though. Of course I watched Nightmare Before Christmas. My favorite that I watch every year. I actually watched it again tonight for the second time this year.

Except for some trees down in the valley...  all of the colors are gone and everything is going dead. It happens so quickly. It's sad. I went on a motorcycle ride up the canyon with Jared on Tuesday thinking it would be a lot prettier, but it's just not anymore. Oh well. It was beautiful while it lasted. The trees down here (not in the mountains) are still pretty and different colors. They are always the last to go. Those might last a couple more weeks. We shall see. Sad to see it go. That just means it is going to get colder and then Winter will come.

I'm going to vent for a second and tell you I'm getting a little tired of my kitchen situation. I am the one that mostly dumps the trash. I'm the one that almost always loads and empties the dishwasher, also the only one that wipes the counters. I feel a little like house made. More and more our house looks like a dump because nobody picks up anything or cleans up anything. I'm slightly OCD... so I hate this. I know I have to pick my battles because I love my roommates and we all get a long so well. But nobody is more busy than anyone else... to the point where you have time to make food and dirty a dish, but you for some reason don't have time to rinse it out and put it in the dishwasher even though the dishwasher is right next to the sink and I have emptyed it for you. How hard is it?! So... the dishes just piles up in the sink to the point where I can't even use the sink and I typically wait a week when I can't stand it anymore... and then I clean everyone else's mess. Why is this so hard for people? I don't understand it at all. At least rinse it out so there is not your nasty food dried and crusted all over every dish that we have. Ok... venting done.

This weekend was busy. I had two dates both of which were set up and I already blogged about each one. I had my nephew's (Calvin) birthday party which I took pictures for and still need to edit them because I still need to finish editing the Flake family photo's which I couldn't start until I finished editing my Europe photo's. I think people don't realize HOW LONG it takes to go through photo's and edit them and decide which ones to keep and which ones to throw away. Anyway... we also had our Halloween dinner for the kids which I already blogged about and it was a party for sure, which was fun. I love getting together with friends.

As far as projects go, I feel like I will never catch up. I still need to make a video of Allison and my trip. I also still need to make a book of that trip AND the Southeast Asia trip which has now almost been a year ago since I went. That is after the other photoshoots. Hopefully nobody asks me to take their Christmas card photo's. I'm sure someone will. I should be getting paid for this....

Tonight Allison and I also went to see "The Best of Me". It was your typical Nicolas Sparks movie. They are predictable, but I love them. Sometimes I am just in the mood for a good chick flick. Plus, I just love James whats his face in that movie. Something so charming and classy about him. Plus he is nice to look at.

I had another activities meeting, this time with the Bishopric. We have decided that the theme of our Christmas party is going to be the Polar Express. I have written down some ideas, but if you have any ideas to contribute, let me know. We have a big budget.

Besides that, I had a fish die. My fish that looked kind of like a dragon because he would glide around the tank. I was pretty bummed about it. Now... skeletor the star fish has him. So sad.... Guess I will just have to get a new fish. Maybe a different kind this time. Who knows. He will have to be able to handle the Damsel. He is a bully.

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Dear Fall, please stay for a LONG time.

Crazy Corn Maze

Went to another corn maze. This time to the Crazy Corn Maze in Salt Lake. It was actually a huge group date of married couples from my good friend Geedge's ward. All married couples and then me and my blind date Jared. A little awkward for a blind date, but I embrace awkwardness. I can handle it.

We all went out to dinner at famous Dave's and then were off to the corn maze. I love hanging out with Geedge, so I knew I would have fun regardless.

My date wasn't so bad either though. Geedge's husband Brian knows Jared from the mission. They think highly of us both, so they set us up. I would say it was a successful match up... we both had a great time. Enough to get a first date photo together. Is that weird?

So glad they set us up and so glad I got to spend time with Geedge and Brian. Maybe we will do a double one day.

Halloween Dinner for the Kids - Take 5

It's that time of year again. Time to make a gross but yummy Halloween dinner for the kids. I love this tradition that Kristy started and I probably love it more than the kids now that they are starting to get older. I think it is so fun. I have been looking at ideas on Pinterest since last year. This year we even had a lot of extra guests that joined in on the party like the Tates and Clara's mom and brother.

This year was different stuff and all great. I was in charge of the drink. I brought apple juice, but not just any apple juice... apple juice with shrunken heads floating in it!

Kristy made the dessert (eyeballs and goblin fingers)

Chad and Clara brought the 7 layer dip with the cool spider web.

And my mom did the rest.

The best part of the dinner was defiantly the zombie head meatloaf. Gross... but so good.

Mr. Butt Slapper

So I get a massage every month at a place in the mall. My current massage therapist likes to talk and we often talk about my dating life. She tells me she has someone to set me up with. I'm very open to that. I mean... why not? Nothing to lose. Although most people say that, but never actually do it.

My massage therapist contacts this guy right after we talked about it and a couple of weeks later he stalks me on Facebook and I guess decides I'm pretty enough to contact. So I get a message from him. We chat back and forth. He seems nice. He asks me out for the next Tuesday for dinner, but I already have dinner plans with my good friends Liz and Ben. So we decide to meet up after just to chat and get to know each other.

Tuesday night he comes and picks me up and we go for a drive. He does most of the talking. I knew he was younger than me... and he knew I was older than him, but we found out that night by how much. A solid 8 years. I'm open minded, so I try not to focus on that. He makes it very clear to me that he loves older women. And as he puts it...

"If you look this good at 31, there are only good things to come"

I could not agree more Mr. Butt Slapper.

Although he did most of the talking, I thought our first outing went pretty well. Well enough that I would go out with him again, which he made clear he wanted to do.

He had asked me out for that weekend. We didn't end up going out because he was sick.

This last week he asked me out for this weekend. He asked me out for Friday to a concert, mixed up the days and wanted me to go to the concert with him on Saturday instead, but Saturday was too crazy for me, so we stuck to Friday and just went out to dinner instead.

I was enjoying our dinner conversation. It was a little more balanced between the both of us than our first encounter. After dinner he wants to hang out at the park. So we take blankets and sit out at the park and chat until we get too cold. As we were walking out of the park he said...

Mr. Butt Slapper - "You have a nice butt"

*He then proceeds to slap it*

Me - "Uh... thanks?"

*I was feeling very caught off guard and not knowing what to say. I never know what to say on the spot in these situations*

Mr. Butt Slapper - "I mean... a lot of guys go for like anorexic girls, but I love having something to grab you know?"

I nervously laughed and didn't really respond.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude. If we were in a relationship and had known each other for a while and were comfortable with each other... I wouldn't have cared. I just don't feel like that is first date material.... but welcome to my dating life.

Flake Family

On Monday I took the Flake Family pictures. I know Tyler from work. We are both in the Legal department and our offices are across the hall from each other, so we have gotten to be really good friends. Over the past year and a half I have gotten to be good friends with Tyler's wife Shantelle because she has been my health coach. They are both awesome and have become close friends and I love them both.

Since they were nice enough to take Allison and I horseback riding, I told them I would do a favor for them and take their family photo's during this beautiful time of year. So we set it up for Monday. They have 4 young boys. The youngest is just about to turn a year old. Their boys are adorable, but let's be honest... kids don't love getting their picture taken and it is sometimes hard to get a great picture of everyone at the same time. That being said... overall their boys did great. Logan is a very happy baby, so it was just getting him to look at the camera. It was the second youngest that had the hardest time and the two older boys were easy. You take enough pictures though and you get at least a few good ones with everyone smiling.

Here is the best of what I got. What an adorable family.

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I'll go ahead and just continue with wedding flashbacks and flashback to my sister Jamie's wedding. I was super excited for this wedding not because I am always happy for my family when they get married... but because it was my first time getting to be a bridesmaid. I had always wanted to be a bridesmaid and this was my first time getting to do it. I think my sister probably didn't care to have them, but she knew how much I wanted to be one. She is so nice to me. She even made mine and Lori's skirts!

As you can see the wedding was beautiful.

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This week I am thankful for my smart phone. It makes life so convenient. Especially my new phone, everything works better and is faster and I just love that everything is just at the touch of a button.

This week flew by. The weather has surprisingly stayed warm and beautiful. I am loving it. I feel like I have been doing a lot of fun stuff and spending time outside, but I feel like I should be spending more time outside.

My roommate wanted me to watch Hemlock Grove on Netflix... so I have been. I started it this week and will finish it this week. I'm not sure why I am going to finish it... I hate it. Don't watch it.

Saturday was super productive for me. I was on a roll, I got a ton done. Maybe it is because I got 100% on my sleep. That is right,  have been using my sleep cycle app again. I also went and test drove a car with my dad. I hate salesmen, but I loved that car. I still haven't decided yet though what car I want to get. Oh yeah... I'm wanting a new car if I haven't mentioned that already. I don't just want a new car. I need one. I hate the process of looking for one though. I kind of wish someone would just do that for me and then I will just buy it. I'm not looking forward to car payments and higher car insurance, but I do need a new car. So I need to be a big girl and do it.

I also went to the fish store and I got my regular stuff AND a new fish. He brings some spice to the tank. Allison thinks I should name him Jazzy because of it. I don't really have names for the rest of my fish, except for MJ... but I don't mind Jazzy. Maybe that will stick. I just haven't been inspired with fish names. I have 6 fish now though and most of them need names. My tank sure is fun. Next I think I will get more coral. Jazzy was fine when I first put him in, but just last night he started picking on all the other fish. He is the new guy and thinks he owns the tank. I hope that they are just figuring out pecking order and then they will stop. That is what my fish nerd cousin told me anyway. He is the expert, so I believe him.

The diet has been going well. I can't wait to feel skinny again though. Not quite feeling that yet.

Yesterday was a cheat day for me. I had my annual pumpkin dinner. I will blog about it more later and post recipes, but it was awesome. It turned out exactly how I pictured it, the food was really good and everyone loved it. It was picture perfect. In fact, I instagramed a picture of the dinner and it was the most "likes" AND comments that I have received on a picture in a while. I love throwing fancy dinner parties.

Did a hip hop work out today on my lunch break. It was fun. That is my favorite type of exercise right there... dancing. It's the best.

I bought a robe this last week. I have wanted one for a long time... I always just thought it sounded nice to lounge around in a robe after getting out of the shower. Well, I found a black one at walmart that is super soft and warm and it was under $20... so I got it. Oh man! I'm pretty sure that I am going to be living in this thing come Winter. I mean, not only is it great to get in after the shower, but I also like wearing it over my clothes, because it is like wearing a blanket... with sleeves. My roommates make fun of me, but I don't care. Now I know why my friend Daniel is always walking around wearing his robe everywhere. It is all starting to make sense.

Tuesday I had my massage. Can I just mention again how glad I am that I get one every month? Seriously, it makes all the difference to me. I am so tight every time, so I obviously need it. If I could get one every day I would. They are so heavenly.

Other than that, I went to the pumpkin patch with Allison. Jakers in Springville. I went there last year as well, but this year it was so much more crowded. Probably because it is free and because they added a bunch more activities there. You can even have birthday parties there. Allison and I had a fun time picking out pumpkins. I think I even know what I am going to carve in it this year. I always love doing all of this stuff. Still need to finish putting my costume together as well. The pumpkin patch is beautiful and there is something about a bunch of pumpkins being in a picture... it's pretty... or maybe it just makes me happy because it represents fall and I am in love with fall. Either way... I'm glad we crossed that off of our fall bucket list. Can you believe there is just one more week of October left? AH!