FHE...What?????

FHE… what??

OK so lets face it…my family was never really the FHE (family home evening) Type. Maybe my parents did their best when us kids were really young to keep the FHE tradition alive, but as we got older it just got too hard. I was too busy with dance, Ashley with cheer and Jason with water polo!Sorry mom and dad! Anyway to my dismay... our friends have started a FHE night together with a bunch of married couples once a month. Surprisingly it has been quite a bit of fun!! October was our FHE kick off and we made homemade pizza and carved pumpkins with a spiritual thought at John and Annas house!!

In November we had ice cream and played minute to win it games with a spiritual thought at another couples house! (no pictures of this one sorry)
AND...
IN December we are going to hold it at OUR HOUSE so I will make sure to post about that event as well soon!
Anyway it has actually become a very fun event and good excuse to spend a evening with good friends and fun games! :)
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ALSO..... I Really had to throw in this post as well... This is Maddux this year in his Halloween costume!!! HE'S A SCARECROW!!!! hahhaha He Loved it! Some of our neighbors even gave him bones in his trick or treat bag :)

Traditions... and my attenpt to catch up on life hahha

Traditions

As the years go on, Joe and I have started to form our own traditions for each holiday. One of our favorite traditions at this time of year is to go to Gardner Village here in Utah. Gardner Village is a witch infested fun festival filled with adorable shops and picture perfect moments. It is a place that strangely reminds me of a real life Halloween Town from the movie once showed on the Disney channel, as I was a kid. This year we decided to go with our good friends Janelle and Hoeun. We had a ton of fun showing them all the neat stuff and guiding them in and out of all the well-decorated Halloween stores. On this particular visit to Gardner Village it was raining!! That’s right raining!!! It started clear but cold and as the day went on it began to rain harder and harder! I was kind of sad about this because I really wanted to show Janelle and Hoeun the magic that surrounded Gardner Village. Even though it was wet and cold they said they still had an excellent time visiting the fun festive Village. After Gardner Village we went out to eat at the one and only GOODWOOD and then hung out with some friends at the “Hunted Hotel” getting scared together! The Hunted Hotel was fun but defiantly not the scariest hunted house I have ever been to. The 3D level was pretty cool but the rest was just so-so…

The only thing that could make this “traditional” weekend come full circle with Halloween fun is none-the-less then my famous Halloween Sugar Cookies!!!! YES “The sugar cookies” !! The one thing about these cookies is that they are AMAZING (not to boast) hahah But this is the reason I only make them in the months of October, November and December. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful Halloween weekend!!

THRILLER

Every year it seems to be an up and coming tradition for Joe and I to see Thriller at Kingsbury Hall in Salt lake. It is such an amazing show and this year was no exception. However this year was especially special because 3 of my old students I used to teach at the Dance Factory were IN IT!!!! All three were luck enough to try out and make it as chucky dolls in this year’s production. It is always a fun night filled with laughs, tears and pure amazement at the perfection that has become THRILLER!! I love this show so much and it always seems not that Halloween would not ever be the same without it!

Crazy ghosts that climb over chairs to scare the shizz-nat out of people like me hahah :





Joe and I waiting for the show to begin:




Opening number “Thriller”:



One of my favorites “Dem Bones”:


Cooper and Joe playing during intermission:





The girls performing in the Chucky number:



The Girls: Mikele, Cierra and Brianna:



Gev M (From So You Think You Can Dance) was in the show this year!!! He played a Ghostbusters skit several times through the show. He is seen here dancing with an audience member:



Joe and I with one of the creepy CREEPY CrEePy ghosts that wonder about after the show too:



ALL in ALL a FANTASTIC show and such a fun kick off to the festivities that are HALLOWEEN!!!!

Congratulations Megan and John!!

Today I went to a baby shower for my good friend Megan! I know Megan from when we first met in a class at LDS business Collage and we became good friends fast. We were very lucky to work with one another at the Dance Factory in Bountiful, UT. For 3 years and now we just try and keep in touch as often as we can. LUCKILY, today we got to see each other again for such a fun occasion!! A BABY SHOWER!! I love baby showers. I don’t know if it is the countless hours looking at miniature clothing items or if it is just all the yummy food and funny games that seem to always be surrounding them but they are truly some of my favorite parties to go to. I am so happy for John and Megan who have been married now for almost 3 years, to finally welcome their sure to be adorable little boy into this world (hopefully soon)!! ;)

CONGRATULATIONS MEGAN AND JOHN!!

Megan opening some presents at the shower:






Megan and I:

Smmer and Fall up till now...

OK so I apologize for my delay in writing anything on my blog lately. Some of the keys on my laptop are broken and I have to find the time to sit on my husband’s computer to write anything....which we all know for me can be hard! ANYWAYSSSSS.... Summer and fall have been a blast for us and have also flown by so fast i can’t even believe Christmas is in 2 months already! WOW! OK so below is just a few things we have been up to in the past few months!

**I FINALLY graduated from the University of Utah!!! GO UTES!!! I got a bachelors in Human Development and Family Studies and Early Childhood Education! yayyy I was so excited to graduate and so proud of myself that I actually finished college. (a lot of people thought I never would hahah who showed up who now haha!)


* At the end of May we went to Yellowstone for a 1 year anniversary. yay we made it! The trip was Maddux's first time and he loved it HOWEVER it was such a cold and wet trip, I don’t know if I can muster up the courage to ever do it again JK! BUT we loved hanging out with our friends the Wilkin’s and catching up on old times! 

**I started my 5th year of teaching at the Montessori at the end of august. Joining Sophie and I this year is our NEW 3rd teacher Janelle! Janelle is a unique add because she is my best friend from before preschool and after years of wishing, her husband and her finally made the move out here to Utah from Boston!! I am so excited and blessed this year to be working with my two best friends and am LOVING every minute of it!!!

**At the beginning of September Joe and I attended the Utah state fair with our good friends Emily and Matt Morris! It was so much fun to spend the evening with them and get to know Emily better! They are truly so much fun to hang out with! Below is a picture of Emily and I about to go on the Farris wheel that Joe and Matt were too scared to go on hahah! It was a lot of fun!

**Joe and I on our way to go on the Giant slide!



 **ALSO at the beginning of September our good friends John and Anna Sullivan got married in the San Diego temple! We were so excited and happy for them to finally tie the knot! We traveled down to San Diego fro like a 24 hour period to attend the wedding and party like rock stars haah JK! It was a fun trip and a beautiful wedding! Congratulations guys!!!!

*** This is Emily, Jane and I at the Salt Lake reception for Mr. & Mrs. Sullivan!

**At the end of September Joe and I attended free museum day! Who doesn’t like free stuff?? Haha We went to the Utah Natural History Museum; it was fun to spend the day together doing something educational and fun! Below is Joe looking at all the different kinds of bees that live in Utah!!!

**Joe looking at a dinosaur head

**Finally last but not least… WE BOUGHT COUCHES!!!!!!! Yayyyy we spend the first 3 months of living in our new home trying to settle in and watching TV on the ground! We were so excited to finally get the couches we had been eyeballing for a long time and complete our new home!

** Some other things that happened over the summer and fall so far that we don’t have pictures of are:
-We got 2 new nephews!! Joe’s sister Cassie and her husband Dave welcomed their new baby Jacob Taylor Larsen into this world in May and we just love this little guy so much!
- Joe’s older brother Cody and his wife Ginger welcomed their new arrival Austin Cody Taylor into this world at the end of August and he is such an adorable bundle of joy!
-We went to Yellowstone again for the Fourth of July weekend with our friends Jessie and Mindy! It was by far the best trip to Yellowstone EVER! We got to stay in a cabin! Who can beat that??
-We moved into our house at the end of June!
-Joe’s cousin Mazie got baptized last Saturday! Congrats Mazie!
-Joes Parents moved to Salt Lake Finally! We are so excited to have them here and more family so close!
-We had several visitors live with us over the summer, including all people who were moving here from varies places! Thomas visiting for 7 weeks from BYU-I , Dorothy and John moving here from San Diego, John Sullivan for 6 weeks because he was getting married and moving back from BYU-I, and my good friends Hoeun and Janelle moving here from Boston! We are so excited to have all of these people living here now and so close to us BUT we are equally excited to have them all out of our house hahahah 
-Maddux is now 8 months old and is loving every minute of having a back yard and his cousin Henry (my sister Ashley’s dog) so close to play with so often!
Well these are some of the things we have been up to and now that I am somewhat caught up maybe It will stay that way…. Hey a girl can dream right?? ;)