Happy Halloween 2015

I didn't dress up this year for Halloween. Nor did I go to any parties. I worked a lot of hours at work this week and just didn't get into this year which is SO WEIRD for me because I LOVE Halloween and dressing up. So... at least I got to dress up for that music video. That is what I am counting for my costume this year. I can do that right? You have already seen the costume, but here it is again.

You know I love showing off my cute nieces and nephews though. So... here is how they were all dressed this year.

The Hixon Kids.

The Wrenn Kids.

The Bourgeous kids.

I LOVE that Reanne and Jess dressed up together this year together. Father daughter Nerd costumes. How cute are they? They played off their braces that they got together. Love it.

The Pumpkin Carvings

I decided to go with the Maleficent theme and carve her in my pumpkin. Found a stencil on Pinterest. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Mine with the two that my roommate Mackenzie carved. She did an amazing job, I think our patio looked great with all of them lit up together.

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Another week failed on the diet. It is SO hard to get back on once you get off. Having quarter end for sure doesn't help either. All you do it sit at your desk for several hours while they feed you lots of food all day. Basically the perfect recipe for getting fat. It's rough, but at least after this... I will be SUPER motivated to get back on my diet because I feel gross. Ha ha. Also I found out that everyone else on my team also loves Sodalicious.

Speaking of Sodalicious, I just found out today that they have 4 locations in Utah now and two guys dropped out of school to open one up in Gilbert Arizona! I love that it is spreading.

Tuesday they offered flu shots at work. Just a week after I had the flu. It's fine. I never get the flu shot anyway, so I still would have gotten sick. Just a little funny.

Friday my roommate MacKenzie and I went and checked out the new IMAX theater they just put in near us on Geneva Road. It's awesome. Now we don't have to go to Sandy if we want to see a movie in the IMAX. We went and saw the second movie in the Maze Runner series. I liked it. I never read the books... but so far I have been enjoying the movies. I hadn't been to the movies in a long time, so it was fun to go.

Tomorrow all of the trick or treaters will come. I always pass out candy. It's fun to see co-workers and their spouses and children. Last year I was so irritated with the kids for being rude, I decided this year not to pass out candy. I remember saying that last year and I am sticking to it. Candy is expensive and if I am just going to be annoyed by the kids... then why do it? I know... I am a total grinch.  I should have a better attitude, but oh well. Maybe next year I will pass out candy again.

I had my eyelash massage trade on Monday. Love catching up with Ali and it always is so nice to have full lashes again. They start to become quite annoying when they get grown out and not as many.  Love having them though. Totally worth it. I think I've had them for almost 5 years now? Hard to imagine myself without them now. So glad I have Ali to trade with.

I'm still watching Pretty Little Liars. I told you it was going to take me a while. I am getting closer to catching up to the current seasons though. I am in the 5th season now and the 6th season is the season running right now. Still don't know who A is. I'm sure it will be like Gossip Girl and you won't find out until like the last episode. Still like it though. Don't know what I will watch next. One of my co-workers wants me to watch a travel show he watches. I could do that for sure... might be a bad thing for me though. Just makes me want to travel more, not that I don't get plenty in. Just makes me want to quite my job and travel for a year. That's the dream... but the real dream would be doing it with my future husband.

Wednesday my good friends Liz and Ben invited me over for dinner. It had been a while since we had hung out and caught up. They are so fun. Love them. We need to do it more often. I told them that next time I would make them dinner.

After dinner, Liz needed to go to Costco to get bread, so I went with her. Guess who I ran into there? John's parents. I was excited to see him. Love his family. They are great. So we got behind them in line and caught up a little bit. I can tell I caught them a little off guard and they didn't really know what to say to me... probably don't know if they should bring up John or not, but they were super nice and asked about my travels and yeah, it was fun to run into them.

I got new pillows for my bed while I was at Costco. I have been meaning to do this for a while. My pillows on my bed are SOOOO old. Seriously. It's find of gross when you think about it. One of my pillows I don't even use. It's a super old crappy feather pillow. My other pillow I have been using for almost 10 years and I wasn't sure I could find a pillow I liked as much as this one. It's a memory foam pillow that has a down case around it so it is the perfect combination of soft and firm. The down was getting super flat though. So anyway, I found these pillows at Costco (came in a pack of 2) that is memory foam, but in tons of pieces... so it is fluffy, but firm. It was only $10 for the pack of 2 so what was to lose? Anyway, I have now slept on them and I LOVE them. SOOO comfy. Glad I got them and now I have two so the pillows on my bed actually match. It's great. $10 well spent.

It's quarter end this week. Usually Paula and I take turns staying late. Not anymore. With our new boss, we now both have to stay late the last two nights... so today I have been at work for 15 hours. Tomorrow will be the same. They have taught me how to enter orders. So I am doing that. Ugh. Quarter End blows. I hate getting home to go straight to bed to wake up and do the same thing again tomorrow. I will NEVER be a workaholic. I don't even relate to those people. ha ha. This is what tonight looks like for me right now.

So I am the communications co-chair now right? My co-chair is the one that usually does the programs, but he was gone, so he asked me to do them and gave me a very detailed email explaining exactly how you do them. I have never cared about the program before, I never look at them, I usually just make paper cranes out of them. Anyway... because I was scrambling to get 100 copies of the program done in a short amount of time it got me thinking why we have them. I really really really don't see the point. I started asking a lot of people if they care about having a program, if they use them, only 2 people out of the many that I asked told me they actually care to have the program. I am really going to try and get rid of it... if I can.... depends on how convincing I can be to the right people. We shall see, but I think it is a huge waste of paper. I'm all about not wasting paper.

Speaking of church... you know how Stacey like to send me funny texts during church? Well... Sunday he took a picture of me sitting in church from where he was. He hashtagged #creepin it was a little on the creepy side. But funny. The funnier part about it is that the guy by me was looking at Stacey taking the picture of me and Stacey didn't notice until I pointed it out to him. So who is the real creeper? Good times.

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Another picture from Provo Canyon.

Jeeping Provo Canyon

My friend Amber has become my new adventure buddy. I love it. She has a jeep and it is so fun to explore the canyon in it... even when it's cold. We just drove around the entire afternoon taking pictures and soaking in the last of the fall. After this weekend, it's done. Sad... but true.

I even found a place to hammock. We stopped in the Aspens. I LOVE Aspen trees.

While exploring, we even came across some Moose. I thought that was pretty awesome. I always love seeing Moose in the Mountains.

Great afternoon. Always a blast exploring the outdoors with Amber. Especially in the jeep!

Attempt to hike to the Spanish Fork Hot Springs

The nice weather is coming to an end. I didn't have any plans, but I wanted to be outside. There isn't a lot of pretty fall colors left, so I thought I would go to the hot springs so that I could have the pretty hot springs to see. Well, that was the plan. That plan didn't quite pan out the way I thought it would.

The stupid part about this day is that I have been to the Spanish Fork Hot Springs... many times. There are two different ways to get there. I only know the back way. Don't know why. That is just the way I was taught... which is weird. Most people don't know that way. Apparently the back way takes longer to drive there and it takes longer to hike there... and the hike is a little harder. So I decided I wanted to go the other way... the normal way that everyone goes.

First off, I went by myself. I feel like that in itself is a gamble for me. I'm terrible with directions and if I don't have any one to figure it out with me, then anything could happen.

So my first mistake, besides going by myself was putting into my GPS "Fith Water Hole Hot Springs". I get to a lot of my hiking trails this way, so I figured it would work for this too. So I put it in the GPS and was on my way. My first clue that it wasn't right should have been that it was taking me towards the back way... I was told that the other way was a lot closer to the bottom of the canyon. It's amazing actually that both ways lead to the same hot pots because both ways to get there are so far apart from each other. For some reason I trusted my GPS and I kept going. I kept going even when it had me turn down a dirt road. When I took this dirt road, I didn't realize how rough it was going to get. Turns out, that road is for 4 wheelers... not normal cars like mine. Once I was on it, there was nowhere to turn around, so I kept going. Not going to lie, there were several parts of this road that gave my anxiety... like it was going to mess up my car and I would be stranded in the middle of the mountains where nobody would find me. However, my car is awesome, and it made it like a champ. My GPS told me I had reached my destination which was a cliff... with no path in sight. Obviously this was not it... I looked at my GPS again... wondering what I should do. The reviews on google said DON'T USE GOOGLE GPS and then gave directions. Ha! I guess I should have read the reviews first. So I head back down the canyon to start over. So that whole adventure put me back an hour on time... but at least I know what my car is capable of now.

So I followed the directions and I went back up the canyon to the correct turn off. The directions were actually pretty easy and I found the parking lot to the real trailhead. I saw lots of cars there and thought it was a no fail now.

I parked and got my backpack ready and then realized there were two different trails. Nobody was around to ask... except this one guy walked by and I asked him. He said he wasn't sure because it had been so long since he had been there. He was pretty sure it was the path across the bridge. So I trusted him because he had been there before and I had not. So I headed on that path. I saw a couple of people coming down that path so I thought... ok, must be right. The guy and his group were right behind me.

I think I hiked for a half hour with this group behind me when I realized we were not on the right path. My clue? We should have been following a river and we were doing a lot of uphill climbing. Also... with all the cars that were in the parking lot, I should have at least passed one or two people coming back to their cars and I did not see one person. So I stopped and asked the group behind me. Non of them had been before except for the guy that told me to go this path. He said he still thought we were on the right track. They also told me I could hike with them... even though they were on a double date, so we all continued to hike together. The girls ran ahead on the trail and left me with the two guys in the group, so I chatted with them while we hiked for about a half hour. After an hour, we should have seen the hot springs and FOR SURE should have seen other people. We knew for certain now that we were on the wrong path. Well... I already knew that, but whatever. So we all started hiking back. On the way back, we ran into some dirt bikers that confirmed we had hiked up the wrong canyon. Cool. So I stayed ahead of the group and hiked back as fast as I could because I was starving and wanted to get to my car before it got dark. I made it back to my car RIGHT as it was getting dark. I was happy about that.... all I could think about is where I wanted to eat.

I was bummed that I didn't make it to the hot springs. In hindsight I should have just gone the way I knew... especially when I was so close with my off roading adventure the first time. Or I should have just read the directions from online the first time instead of trying to put it in my GPS. That would have given me an extra hour of light. And maybe I would have run into people that knew the right way to go. It is what it is though... can't change what happened. It was an adventure even though it wasn't the one I wanted that day. I made some friends, I off roaded in my car, I still got outside and got to hike. So the day wasn't a total loss.

Can't Feel My Face - Featuring Disney Villains

Remember the other day when I posted about playing Maleficent in a music video for Halloween? Well, RJ finished it today and it is up and running! He was super quick with this one. I enjoyed playing Maleficent. I liked that there were fewer characters this time. Just one princess and her villain. Anyway. Give it a watch. Hope you enjoy. It's fun to be a part of these video's. I'm glad he keeps asking me.

Pumpkin Patch

Today I took a trip to Jakers Pumpkin Patch after work. They totally started charging for admission this year. Dang it. Oh well. Fall isn't complete without picking out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.

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I don't understand why people go to the bathroom while talking on the phone. Especially in public bathrooms. Isn't that awkward and unsanitary? It always weirds me out every time that happens in the bathroom at work.

I kind of hate driving. A little less now that I have a new car, but the biggest reason that I hate driving is because I don't trust drivers around me. I feel like I run into more mean drivers than nice. People who think they are invincible in their car. This morning I was coming right up next to this big truck on my way to work and the car behind the truck came within INCHES of my car just to go around the truck before I could pass. I layed on my horn good... they didn't even care. That could have easily been an accident had I been an inch closer. WHY DO PEOPLE DO THAT? Is it really that worth it to get in front of people? It drives me crazy. I hate careless drivers.

I enjoyed my week break off of the diet. I got all my fall favorites in, including Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Caramel Apples. They lasted a while because I got 4. Just couldn't choose. I'm the worst when it comes to sweets.

I was supposed to get back on the diet on Monday... but I had such a busy weekend that I didn't have time to get to the store. I also didn't have time on Monday because of the Music Video that I was in. I was going to do it on Tuesday, but I woke up SUPER sick... with the stomach flu. I was not happy because I am pretty sure I know where it came from. I had to miss a day of work, cancel my eyelash / massage trade (which she is so hard to schedule) and miss my favorite U-Jam class and didn't get to the store again... in fact, I didn't eat anything all day. I didn't even get to watch tv. I just slept and threw up all day. THE WORST. I'm glad that is over because it was so awful.

By the way, 711 and Maverick both don't carry Ginger Ale. It was really annoying when I was trying to find it when I was sick... weak, trying to find something to get in my system that would stay there. Ended up buying a HUGE things of it at Scary Allen's. Only option. Thankfully MacKenzie was nice enough to drive me around. 

I have been trying to keep up on my 10,000 steps every day as well. Being sick messed that up too, but I got on track the next day even though I still wasn't eating much the next day and still was very low on energy. There are only 4 more days left of the challenge. Not that I don't want to try and keep it up after.

Still watching Pretty Little Liars. I am a little more than half way through the Season... so half way through? ha ha. This is going to take a long time, but I don't mind. I'm into it. My kind of drama. Always keeping me on my toes. WHO IS A? Still have no idea. ha ha.

I had a really busy weekend. A good weekend. Love my Love you Like Plaid Party and I also had a girls night after that which was so fun. I'm thankful for good girlfriends. I also got to be outside and go jeeping with my friend Amber. So glad that we reconnected and are hanging out because she is fun and loves to be outdoors like me. I also had a date on Friday with a guy that my cousin Andrea set me up with that she knows from High School. Not sure he is really my type, but he was very nice and we had fun painting at Color Me Mine. I painted a mug. Here's how it turned out.

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Last Wednesday, after sitting in traffic for 2 hours, I went on a much needed evening walk and caught the end of a beautiful sunset.

Love You Like Plaid

I had a list of things that I wanted to do this fall. I of course wanted to do my annual pumpkin dinner party, but then I also thought it would be fun to do a fall picnic with some of my girlfriends too. Well, I took the idea to my friend Alexi and of course not only was she in, but she took it above and beyond to create something out of a magazine like our tea party back in April.

Lexi and I had gotten together to discuss how we wanted the party. We were on the same page for 95% of it and started a shared board on Pinterest. We knew we wanted it to be outside and we wanted Plaid to be the theme. Then Lexi came up with "Love you Like Plaid" and sent out the cutest invites with a cute poem inviting everyone to the party and asked everyone to wear the plaid. I just loved every minute of it.

We thought it would be super cute for each girl to get a basket. I put together the baskets, bought the baskets and plaid blankets and they also included apples, a rootbeer, a little sign that said "Oh Darling, let's be adventurers" and a little fall arrangement from the florist. SO cute.

Speaking of the florist, like our last party, this was a collaboration of talent. Lexi and I were the event planners. Lexi was again the graphic designer, the Florist was Over the Top Floral.

Cupcakes were done by Amy, same girl who did the Naked cake at the tea party. We also had a popcorn bar which was so fun. We each got two bags to fill with popcorn and then got to make our own popcorn flavors and then had a competition to see who made the best flavor. Top 2 got prizes.

And our photographer was Kayla Brooke Photography. She was awesome. On top of all of that, all the girls that came pitched in by helping set up, clean up and bring extra stuff. Although it did rain on us a bit, the party was a total success. Such a cute and original party. Made a couple of new friends as well. I hope that Lexi wan't to keep planning these types of parties with me, because they are such a blast and I always make new friends. I don't have a lot of girl friends that are into these types of parties, so I'm always happy to make new friends that are into these things. So fun.

Corn Maze - Disney Style

My ward went to the corn maze last Thursday... but I didn't go. Weird for me. I look forward to going to the corn maze every year and it is something I love doing every fall. This year... I just wasn't feeling it and didn't go. Then my friend RJ asked me if I would be in another one of his music video's. This music video was going to be filmed at the corn maze after hours... so I guess I was going to go after all. He asked me if I would play Maleficent. I of course told him I would love to. His last music video hasn't been published yet, but whatever. I just go with it.

This music video was great because all I had to do would show up. The costume was provided for me by one of RJ's friends who made almost all of the villain costumes. I had my make up done by the face paint people that work at Corn Belly's... you know, the ones that you pay to do face paint? They did all of our make up for free. The guy who made my costume actually did my make up as well, but when I went into the face paint tent with everyone else, the lady looked at my make up and said she loved Maleficent too much and needed to redo my make up to make it better... so I let her. I didn't care. I didn't see the way my make up looked before, but I liked how she did it. 

We had to wait until Corn Belly's closed. So there was a bit of waiting. While waiting around I got A LOT of attention. People coming up to me and telling me that Maleficent is their favorite and if they can take a picture with me. I took a lot of pictures with kids, teens, adults. I just embraced it. It was like being a character at Disneyland. 

We finally got started and because it was a smaller group this time, filming went a lot faster and I felt like I bonded with the group a lot more. I was also happy to be there with my friend Kristen. There were just two characters for each movie represented. The princess and the villain. I hope that it turns out awesome. I will of course post it when it's done. It was a long night... didn't finished until 2am and then had to drive home and still had to take all the make up off of my face... which trust me... took a while. All worth it though. Being in RJ's music video's is always fun. This is now my 4th video of RJ's that I have been in. So... all of them. I am pretty sure just me and one other girl have been in every video.