Happy Halloween!

Check out this link to see the coolest costume ever!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdAZt6nWAp8&feature=player_embedded

Cakes: Birthday and Halloween

I made two cakes for my cousin Jordan last week.  Her youngest girl, Ada, just turned one, so she wanted one cake for Ada to destroy and another for everyone else to eat.  She didn't care what the other one looked like, so I decided to do another Halloween cake.  I love this new hobby!

Halloween Party

Earlier this month my friend Meghann and I kept talking about having a Halloween party with all our fellow Thunderbird friends in our ward, so we one day we sat down, planned it all out and made it happen.  I think it turned out really well.

I found some cool ideas for Halloween desserts and had a lot of fun making them for the party.  I wanted to do another cake, for more practice, so here is my official cake #2:

This one is not a cake (it's a pudding dessert) but I thought it was so cute, so I wanted to make it as well.

I found the most perfect park about a mile from our house to have the party at and the weather could not have been better.  Along with the desserts, Meg and I made pulled pork/chicken sandwiches and the boys made homemade root-beer, and we had everyone else bring a side.

We mentioned on the invitations that costumes were welcome, so we figured we'd better dress up so no one would feel silly, but no one else dressed up... oh well! (By the way, I'm supposed to be a witch, but I couldn't find my hat that goes with the outfit)

It was great getting to know everyone better and I always love a reason to get together and eat lots of good food.  It was a great little party!

Opposite

Ok, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't things supposed to last longer in the fridge?  Well, that's what I thought..... until today.  I bought some bananas about 4 days ago, and put some in the pantry and some in the fridge, hoping they would last longer and give me more time to eat them.  Well today, this is what they look like.

Is this something I should know? That bananas do not do well in the fridge?!? Someone please tell me!

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Also, I already knew that fall here in Arizona is much different than anywhere else, but I was still a little surprised when I saw it on my way to work the other day...

Flowers falling off bushes instead of leaves falling off trees! It's pretty, but in a different sort of way.  I still really miss fall colors...

A short update

I say 'short' because nothing exciting has really being going on... these are just some random pictures we've taken since being back in AZ, so I thought I'd put them all together.

A glimpse into motherhood
A while back, Brody and I babysat my cousin Jordan's two oldest girls: Lauren (4) and Ellie (2).  We stayed at their house for the weekend and had a lot of fun.  We enjoyed swimming in their pool, going to the mall to ride the merry-go-round and see the puppies in the pet store, playing duck, duck, goose at a park and going for a nature walk, watching movies and much more.  They are such cute little girls and we were happy to help out Jordan and Jake while they were gone for the weekend!

A fun new tradition:

Buffalo Wild Wings is a new favorite of ours and it has become sort of a tradition to go there for lunch once in a while with some of Brody's other classmates from school.  It's been so great to get to know some of the awesome people that he spends most of his day with, and they've been so nice and welcoming to me and the other wives, even though we are not students.  It was great to see everyone again after the long summer break, and our first get together was a blast!

 (The group... well everyone that would fit into the shot)

 (Me and Brod)

 (Renuka, Anisha and Sid)

(Brody eating the spiciest possible wing flavor you can order. Crazy boy!)

(The yummiest wings ever! They were gone about a minute after this picture was taken)

The best Friday Night activity EVER!:

Drive-in Movies!!! I don't know why we haven't been going to these more often, but I definitely think we will from now on... here's why:  

#1--It is $6.50 per person.   
#2--You get to see 2 movies! Again, for only $6.50!!  
#3--The movies are new releases.   
#4--The weather at night here is perfect at this time of year.   
#5--You can bring your own popcorn, drinks, candy... even a full on dinner if you feel like it.   
#6--It is $6.50 per person!! Hello! 2 movies for $6.50... that's $3.25 per movie.  That's a third of the price for a movie in a normal theater.  Why would you ever see a movie in a normal theater when you can do this!! So, like I said, I submit that this is the best idea EVER! 

{{I do agree that the quality of both picture and sound isn't the absolute best, so for movies that I actually really care about (like Harry Potter 7 part 1... which comes out in exactly 30 days!!! I can hardly wait!) I will be paying the extra $$ to go to a real theater.  But when you're going just for something to do, drive-in's are definitely the way to go!}}

In other news, Brody got a job on campus working for a Professor as a Research Assistant.  He really likes the professor he's working for and it's only 10 hours a week (which is good since he's already really busy with classes), but he's hoping it will help him decide if he wants to continue his schooling even further and get a PhD or not (where he'd be doing a lot of research).

Also, he got accepted into the Brazil Winterim!  (All students are require to do a winterim/summerim whether it's just here in Glendale, or somewhere abroad.  Brody chose to go abroad since it will look better on a resume and will give him a chance to learn even more about how business works in other countries.  And I think it's pretty obvious why he chose Brazil {he served his mission there, for those that don't know})  So he will be gone from Jan. 6-20 taking a quick 2 week class in Rio De Janeiro and São Paulo.  Unfortunately for me, I will not have the pleasure of accompanying him this time, since the class will be more intensive and he will have to be back the next week for classes here in Glendale.  We just wouldn't have time to do much sight-seeing and although Brazil is at the top of my list of places to go, I'd rather save the money and go at a time when we can see everything that we want.

As for me, nothing new or exciting.  Just working and waiting for the nice AZ winter weather to come along! I'm also looking forward to the many fun holidays coming up!! I just love this time of year.

Hunger Games Cast

I love the Hunger Games series.  If you haven't read the books, you should.  I'm excited for the movie to come out someday.  In the meantime, I somehow got sucked in to the world of picking my ideal cast members and I can't seem to get out of it, so I'm hoping that posting my ideas on my blog will take them out of my brain and leave them here on the computer so I can stop thinking about it so much.

Katniss:

This is the one I like best for Katniss.  (The pictures below are all of the same actress, she looks way different all done up).  The first two are the best "Katniss look" pictures but the quality is horrible so I couldn't make them any bigger.  The other ones show how she looks in real life.

I found this actress on a fan-made Hunger Games Trailer (someone put together clips from other movies to make it look like scenes from the book) and I guess there is a movie out there with characters that look exactly like Katniss and Peeta in a similar sort of environment.  I thought that was interesting.

Peeta:
I do like the Peeta shown above, but I also like this guy.

Gale: 
This guy is the best for Gale, hands down.  No other options on this one.  That is exactly how I pictured him.

Prim:
Same with Prim.

Mr. and Mrs. Everdeen:
I wasn't too picky on these two characters, but these actors seemed good.

Haymitch:
This one is definitely a toss up.  I can see all 3 of these guys as Haymitch.

Cinna:
Both of these would work for me.

OR

Effie:

Madge: (The mayors daughter)

Rue:

Foxface:

Avox girl:

President Snow:

As you can see, I definitely have too much time on my hands.... I'm really hoping to start working a full 40 hours a week (instead of just 30) any day now.  Keep your fingers crossed!

My first cake.

Here it is!!  My first cake.  It's not perfect, but I'll get there someday.  

The picture in the book was what we were supposed to shoot for, but I made a few changes. Close enough though.

I'm loving my class so far and can't wait to learn more!