Littlefields of Dreams: October in Summary

I cannot believe today is November 1st. It seems like time goes much faster when you're not drudging school every day. Since graduating 6 months ago, time has flown by!

The first weekend in October we spent watching general conference. Saturday we stayed at home and watched on the computer. During the Priesthood session, I went out for "girls night" with my mom and younger sister. In N Out, followed by Kohls, and then Farr's ice cream. It was fun to get some "mommy" time. And even though Mark had been home for a while before I arrived home, he didn't seem to mind. What a great guy! Sunday the 2nd, we went out to my parents' house for some conference cinnamon rolls (family tradition) and visiting with other family members.

Oct.8th: I participated in my first triathlon. I had been training since August for it. The weather preceding the weekend had been rainy and cold. Thankfully, just before the swim started, the storm broke and clouds parted. It warmed up enough that I hopped on my bike in a long sleeve shirt and pants. The bike ride was harder than anyone anticipated. Uphill both ways would be a good description of the course. A few times, despite the advisory of my triathlete sister, I got off my bike to walk some. At the end of the bike course, I was surprised to see not only Mark and my sister who saw me off, but my parents who had joined them. Their cheers made me a little emotional but also gave me the encouragement to keep going even though the majority of the athletes were done. I managed to finish the 5K run in my normal time. As they called out my number at the olympic oval track, I couldn't help but put my hands up in the air, celebrating that I had finally finished and completed my first triathlon. Afterwards we celebrated by eating some In N Out which I felt totally deserving of after only drinking mango electrolyte water all morning.

October 14th: We piled into our little Rav4 and made the trip down to California for Mark's uncle's wedding. It was a long blur of a trip leaving mid-day Friday and arriving back home Sunday evening. Regardless, it was great to be there to help celebrate his uncle's special day with his new bride. It was also great to see a lot of the Martin family (Mark's mom's side).

Oct. 21st: Friday night, around 10pm, we met my Dad who was just coming back into town from a trip for late night McRibs. McRibs were tasty as usual and the company was great. I will admit it's not fine dining, but my dad and I seem to have a bond with McDonalds, especially around McRib time.

This past weekend was quite a busy one as well. We went to the temple Saturday morning, and then later in the afternoon hiked out to the hot springs with some friends of ours. We were hesitant what "tricks" we could encounter the weekend of Halloween but thankfully anyone we ran into had clothes on. The hot springs are a fun adventure, but boy do you smell afterwards! It took 2 washes with fabric softener to get the stench out of our clothes!
Sunday evening we headed out to my parents to visit (and maybe eat some free food). My mom was still on her way home from a trip to Vernal so we got to visit with just dad for a bit. We brainstormed some ideas for this year's snow ramp, trying to make improvements on the construction of last years made by my dad and Mark.

Halloween came and went for us almost like we were old people. Mark and I are not really into Halloween. We didn't even buy a pumpkin. This pumpkin was given to us last night by Mark's sister because she was outraged we didn't use our cool potato head pieces to decorate one with. I also got "fancy" and made cupcakes for ourselves and my RAs. It was thankfully fairly quiet here in the dorms too. I put out candy during my office hours that afternoon but because we're at the end of the hallway, only 2 or 3 kids took a candy bar. Shucks, now we're stuck with fun-size Milky Ways!

I highly suggest this for little kids. My sister lets her little ones paint their pumpkins until they're 8 but that still is a little too messy for my perfectionist, obsessively clean self to handle. Pick a potato head and they get to stick the pieces in-- that's my kind of craft! (Just kidding....one day, I may be able to allow my children to make a mess...but don't count on it!)

These are cool Halloween cupcakes....Yeah, that's about where my creativity lies: make some cupcakes, use store brand frosting and put some candy corn on it. Pretend they're Dracula teeth or something and fake being impressed...