Gingerbread house extravaganza

For young woman's the girls really wanted to decorate gingerbread houses for our combined activity. I love decorating gingerbread houses and have done it every year since I can remember. My mom always purchased the ready to decorate kits and hosted a fun party. However, we have a lot of girls and no money so we decided to HOME MAKE the gingerbread houses. I have never done this or seen it done but accepted the challenge. It made a HUGE MESS and took A LOT of TIME (which is something right now I DON'T have) but on the PLUS SIDE my house SMELLED SO GOOD for the whole day!

Because it is such a long process I was making them late at night wearing my COZY pj's when Brandon snapped some pictures of the BIG mess I was making.

Sonia Laura and I showing off the houses we all homemade. What a project!

It was totally worth all the work, seeing how cute they turned out and how much fun the girls had decorating them.

Next year I already decided we will be decorating SUGAR COOKIES!

Our final are over - HOORAY!

A perfect way to end finals week was with friends and food. On Friday our friends invited us over for a Christmas party.

Krystal wouldn't let us leave without a picture by the tree!

We played some games, had a gift exchange, ate yummy food and talked

It would not have been a good gift exchange if someone did not get a SNUGGIE!

Krystal and I by her beautiful REAL Christmas Tree. Thanks it was such a fun party!

Caramel + Apples = Delicious

Fall time is such a fun time of year... the weather starts to cool, the leaves start to change and you get to pull out your winter box which makes you feel like you have a whole new wardrobe. Oh WAIT! Those fall things do not happen in the DESERT where it is HOT all year round. So I guess I will wear shorts and flip flops and do fun fall activities to make it feel like its not April all year long. So Tracey, Mike, Brandon and I decided instead of going to the famous Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory we would make our own GOURMET CARAMEL APPLES.

We all got carried away and made way more apples than we could ever eat, but they were so fun to make it was hard to stop.

Mine was a RED apple (I know that is breaking the rules, but I don't really like green apples) dipped in caramel and topped with crushed up toffee. I have to say it may not have been the prettiest apple but in my opinon won the BLUE RIBBON for the YUMMIEST!

Brandon always surprises me when it comes to these "crafty" activities we do every now and then. He always ends up being the BEST at them. I only say I am surprised by it not because he isn't talented but because he is not ususally good at fine finger details. His apples turned out the cleanest and with the most creative designs. He could have sold them at the Chocolate Factory!

The caramel came from this cake decorating store in a huge 10 pound rectangle. Sorry KRAFT caramel squares you've been replaced with something BIGGER & BETTER!

Sunday Best

Brody and Garet spent Saturday and Sunday with us last weekend. When they got here the boys went out into the pool and played so water polo. Later that night we had a great time watching the BYU game over at the Dixon's house (too bad the game turned out to be a bust).

On Sunday they got up early enough to get all dressed up and join us for their first time to church. I felt lucky to be sitting next to 3 great looking guys. I am excited for them to come back for the next sleep over.

Halloween Carnival

Vicki was hired to plan a Halloween carnival for a foundation for Autism the weekend before Halloween and I was LUCKY enough to get to help with the fun part. Everybody who knows her knows how talented she is at throwing a party and this one she did not miss a detail. We were busy transforming a HUGE PRIMARY colored VERY (very) messy gym into a CLEAN, Spooky, Kid Friendly Party. It was a BIG project and we finished JUST as people were starting to arrive. Thanks Vic for letting me be apart of the fun, I had a great time.

This station was for pumpkin decorating.

Bean Bag Toss

The Event Decorator Witches

The buffet turned out so awesome.

Candy Stations are always a hit.

Been Too Busy 2 Blog

2 weeks ago (already...where does time go?) my parents, Brenna and her friend Eli drove down to see me for a WAY too SHORT weekend. They got in very late on Thursday night so on Friday when everyone woke up we had some breakfast at the house and then Brenna and Eli were off to Disneyland. My mom, dad and I had a lazy morning of driving to the avocado stands, walking in the shops in old town Temecula and then met up with Brandon for lunch at Rosa's Cantina. Later in the day my dad went golfing with Doc Walker and my mom and I headed to see what the pottery barn outlet had to offer. For dinner Brandon, my dad, mom and I met up with my cousin Joseph and his family and went to one of our favorite places to eat LUCIELLE's. Everybody loved it and we ate until we couldn't take another bite.

On Saturday of course we went to Richie’s Diner for breakfast (the second happiest place on earth) and ate some more. Then we literally piled into one car and drove down to meet up with Doc and Vicki at the BYU vs. San Diego State football game.

The Boys in Action

The Gang

Gotta Get there Early

Cosmo!

Halloween Surprise Package

After a long day at school and then straight to young womans I was so excited to finally come home. To my surprise we had a BIG, FUN HALLOWEEN SURPRISE PACKAGE from my parents waiting for us!

Inside the package was filled with so many thoughtful fun gifts. The girls in my ward will be jelous of this one A FRESH LOAF of the one and only GRANDMA SYCAMORE WHITE BREAD! My mom's homemade approciot jam, provo bakeries sugar cookies, homemade pumpkin seeds, lots of candy and some cute decorations for the house. THANKS SO MUCH! It is a HAPPY Halloween.

We might have to leave this Halloween football pumpkin up all FOOTBALL season long. Brandon smile is about the same size as the football head when he plugs it in at night.

Brandon get a football pumpkin head and I get a SPIDER BRACELET. I might wear this to school tomorrow!

Death by CHOCOLATE does not sound like a BAD way to go if you ask me!