Halloween Costumes

I love Halloween because it's an excuse to dress up and not feel ridiculous. Ok you may still feel ridiculous but it's all in good fun! I'd love to know what everyone is dressing up as this year. If you have any cool costumes from past years that you'd like to tell me about I'd love that too! Leave a comment about your favorite Halloween Costume. Mine was the Chiquita Banana Lady! I'll have to dig and see if I can finds some old pictures.

3x5 Tag

Aimee tagged me with this fun little post.
List: 3 Joys, 3 Fears, 3 Goals, 3 Current Obsessions/Collections, 3 Facts About Yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

3 Joys

Sunshine
Fall
Snuggling

3 Fears

All Bugs
Getting a paper cut in my eye
losing people close to me

3 Goals

Get Fit
Learn to love to run
Finish Book of Mormon by the end of the year

3 Obsessions

Gilmore Girls
Cupcakes
Purple

3 Facts about me

I really hate grocery shopping
I talk in a southern accent when I am at work
I am a bed hog


I tag Kim, Lacey, Desi, Sarah, Jen

Roasted Tomato Soup

Tomato soup is the ultimate comfort food for me. Especially when it is creamy and has bits of tomato in it! I've been searching for a yummy recipe and I came across this one while watching the Food Network ( a new obsession of mine) Tyler from "Tyler's Ulitmate" made this soup and a homemade Mac and Cheese. I had to try it. I used garden tomatos given to me by Kim and our landlords. It turned out delicious and I felt so Martha Stewart because it comes out tasting so gourmet.

2 1/2 pounds fresh tomatoes (mix of fresh heirlooms, cherry, vine and plum tomatoes) 6 cloves garlic, peeled 2 small yellow onions, sliced Vine cherry tomatoes for garnish, optional 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 quart chicken stock 2 bay leaves 4 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, optional 3/4 cup heavy cream, optional
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Wash, core and cut the tomatoes into halves. Spread the tomatoes, garlic cloves and onions onto a baking tray. If using vine cherry tomatoes for garnish, add them as well, leaving them whole and on the vine. Drizzle with 1/2 cup of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, or until caramelized.
Remove roasted tomatoes, garlic and onion from the oven and transfer to a large stock pot (set aside the roasted vine tomatoes for later). Add 3/4 of the chicken stock, bay leaves, and butter. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until liquid has reduced by a third.
Wash and dry basil leaves, if using, and add to the pot. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth. Return soup to low heat, add cream and adjust consistency with remaining chicken stock, if necessary. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Garnish in bowl with 3 or 4 roasted vine cherry tomatoes and a splash of heavy cream.

Sisters

Angela, Me, and Kim

I adore my sisters. Not only are they stunningly gorgeous they are also quite witty, creative, generous, patient, loving, and kind.

Kim- She is an incredible mother and is so dedicated to working hard, being healthy, and serving her family and community. We can talk for hours about nothing and laugh until we cry. I love you Kim.
Angela- She is fashionable, extremely great at recounting stories, an awesome multitasker, wonderful mother and wife, and dear friend. I love to talk fashion and celebrities with her! I love you Ang!

Make Up Bag Tag

I was getting ready this morning and realized that I don't use most of the the stuff in my make up bag on an everyday basis. I decided to condense some of it into a five minute face bag. You know the basics that I don't leave home without! I love all of my make up and every once in a while I get crazy and do something cool and use my fun colors, but my everyday look is pretty basic. I thought it would be fun to see what other people have in their make up bags! I tag Lacey, Andrea, Kim, Sarah, and Tonya :)

Double Trouble

We took about twenty of these photos

This one is a little better but not much!

We have plenty of places to sit but they chose
to sit on this chair together. It was too cute.

About a month ago I babysat for Kim so she could attend BYU's Education Week. I just had the twins because the older kids had all just started school. We had a great morning playing Legos and the Wii. I decided to put together a picnic and take the Twins to discovery park. I brought a huge gatorade for the three of us to share. I had maybe two sips and the Twins polished off the rest in about 10 minutes. We visited the bathroom 3 times in 45 mins ;) After the park I decided to be brave and take them to Costco. I figured how bad could it be right? The second I get them out of the car they start into a full on fist fight with screaming and punching and scratching. Boys can be so violent! Once we calmed down and got inside the boys started enjoying themselves and all of the yummy samples. Josh loved his cracker with salmon spread on it. "The salmon is wonderful" he told the lady. Twenty minutes and two cinnamon sugar churros later all was well and we were happy and smiling and on our way home. It was so fun to spend time with just Cole and Josh. They are adorable and kept me laughing with all of their funny comments.

My Favorite Blondies

Andrea, Lacey, Me, and Tonya

These three beauties are some of my dearest friends. Each has truly touched my life and added so much happiness. Andrea and I bonded in the eighth grade and were inseparable until we moved away to college. We had so many crazy fun times and late night walks and talks. We had a secret coded language and we loved to bake! Lacey and I had a blast in high school and truly became best friends my Sophomore year of college. Lacey helped me through a pretty rough time in my life. We have so many of the same likes it's crazy. Tonya and I met at Infotrax eight years ago. We had such an incredible summer the year after I started. Boating, dragging SF main street, dating stupid boys! Tonya is such a sincere amazing true friend. I love you girls. It was so great to have you all at my wedding.

Autumn Bliss

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year.

I love the crisp jacket weather in the evenings and the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg and pumpkin.
I love fall fashion and wearing scarves.
I love wearing tights with dresses.
I love football season and rain.
I love being able to eat soup and not feel ridiculous. ( I eat soup in the summer because I really love soup but people look at me weird)
I love the start of the holiday season.
I could go on and on. Fall is perfect and I am so happy it is here!

Cole the Camera Man

Casey and I went to the Owlz game yesterday to hear Chloe sing the National Anthem. She was super brave to sing in front of all of those people. She looked adorable! While we were waiting for her to sing Cole was snapping away with my camera. After every picture he'd look at it and laugh hysterically. It was so funny to see the joy he was getting from something so simple. Here are some of his best shots!

A Tribute to Prince William

I came across this picture of a red eye tree frog and it made my heart a little sad for my deceased pet! Some of you may not have known this but I owned a red eye tree frog. His name was Prince William and I adored him. He was my first pet that was just mine and I was so excited the day I bought him at the pet store. The silly thing is I couldn't touch him. I was too afraid, but I loved him just the same. ( He was a jumpy little bugger) My roommate Beth was a little skeptical at first but soon she warmed to his nocturnal ways. He slept all day stuck to the wall of his terrarium in a little green blob! He was a fierce hunter! He ate live crickets! (yes I had to keep live crickets in my house in a little cage) Does this sound like my kind of pet? I actually loved watching him hunt the crickets. He was such an athlete. He liked my voice and would wake up when I got home from trips to say hello and then he'd go right back to sleep until nighttime. I miss you William. Hopefully life is fulfilling and joyous in froggy heaven!

Feeling Purpley

I am obsessed with all things purple these days! I have purple fingernail and toenail polish on right now and I keep searching for purple things to make me happy. Yeah for purple...incidentally I am now craving grape juice! It's 5 a.m. and I couldn't sleep. Casey head butted me and it woke me up and I couldn't fall back asleep. Oh the joys of sharing a bed. I am a bit of a bed hog and I think I was severely on his side. He has a large wonderful head and he got me good. He didn't even stir ;) I should go back to sleep but I think I am going to go download Stephanie Meyers half book Midnight Sun off of her web page. My sister Kim was telling me that someone had leaked it and Stephanie was ticked and decided to stop writing and just post the book to her site and not finish the project. Sad but also Wahoo! because now I have some Stephanie Meyer to read!