Happy Halloween!!

  Seriously one of my favorite Holidays! I believe it was my all-time favorite as a kid. Mostly because I loved dressing up and getting all that candy! There was always the ward Halloween parties, and trick-or-treating, etc. Christmas came as a second favorite while I was a kid, because of all the presents. This was before I really understood the whole spiritual aspect of it. Now that I'm older and understand Christmas, it's now my favorite. And not just the day, the whole season! I'm honestly already excited about putting our tree up a month from now and decorating for Christmas. After Christmas last year, Gary's parents gave us a beautiful Nativity set, as well as many other Christmas decorations; but since Christmas was over, I never got to display them. Now I get to this year, and I'm sooo excited!

 Anyway, this is a Halloween post, not Christmas :)

The ward Halloween (or what we named it- Spooky Spectacular) party had a pretty big turnout last night. I was never really a part of it, because I was helping to run everything, but I hope everyone had fun at least! There was lots of good food and desserts (which we never got to eat, either!), and we kept having to refill everything because it kept going so quickly. But it felt sooo good to help out with everything. We had a few dessert judges (Gary, Josh, Bishop Williams, and TJ), and they had their own little party trying out the desserts. I spent over an hour washing dishes near the end. Gary and I had been running late, and I felt so bad I wasn't able to help more with everything, so I stepped in and washed lots of dishes. So I hope that helped save some time for the Strangs, who had been working since 2:30 that day setting up.

So, our costumes. The plan was to leave and be at the party at 5:30 to help setup. Around 3, I mentioned Gary and I do costumes. We hadn't purchased anything, and had nothing to wear, so I had to throw a few ideas around in my head until we came up with something. Since I have a couple of silk kimono's, I thought I should dress as a Japanese doll (or Geisha, for that matter), and Gary could be a Samurai. So I made a run around town looking for toy Katanas, and eventually found what we needed at Walmart. I had been to a few other stores before Walmart, why didn't I go there first?? Anyway, the traffic was pretty bad, but to keep from stressing out, I just blasted my music and sang to myself until I got home.

They were still pretty ghetto, but they turned out well enough. Now, the pictures suck because we were literally running out the door, but here goes:

Gary's wearing my blue silk kimono, and yes, those are old curtains around him as well. Notice Dexter's interest?

We didn't get a full body of me, because we were running late, and I didn't care. So it's ugly. But I was wearing a black kimono. Totally looks like I'm trying to be sexy, but I'm not, lol. In fact, the camera shot this photo on it's own, before I was ready.

 I had originally purchased a black wig to go with it, but the wig was terrible. It made me look like a hooker mime. Seriously, it was bad. I had taken my camera to the party, but being so busy, I never got the chance to take any pictures. Oh well. :(  All is good, though!

 Anyway, stuff to do today. Hope everyone has a spectacular Halloween today!!

 PS- Blogger's picture thing is irritating me again.

 PPS- Poor husband has been sick this week. He did so much at the Halloween Party, I was surprised he survived it. When we got home, we crashed hard. The bed felt sooooo nice! Hopefully he'll be feeling much better today!!

Birthday Presents and Other Things

 Hello, Friends.


 So, yesterday's weather was pretty stinkin' awesome. I loved the wind! I ended up closing the back door because stuff started blowing in. Anywho, on to my day yesterday.


Yesterday early early morning, I remembered hearing alarms going off. I fell back to sleep. I woke up a little later, and realized Gary was still in bed. Confused, I glanced over at the clock and realized he should be up by now. I nudged him and told him he needs to get up. He mumbled he had already gotten up when the alarms went off, started getting ready, then realized how sick he felt, e-mailed his boss, and went back to bed. Poor guy. Gary never calls in sick, so when it does happen, well, he's sick. So, I went back to sleep. A little while later, around 9:30, I got out of bed. Felt good to sleep in, though. Gary woke up shortly after I did, and took a shower. I came out to the living room, opened the back door, and realized how windy it was, even the night before. We still had a table cloth/sheet over the table from our pumpkin carving the night before. I had already cleaned up the seeds and "guts" from the pumpkins the night before, so no mess there. But there were pieces that were still on the table cloth, as well as the carving equipment .There was a quite a mess from the wind. So, of course, I cleaned up and swept the patio best I could (quickly, before the wind fired back at me). I spent a little more of the morning cleaning the rest of the apartment.


 I then baked up the pumpkin seeds, after Gary's request.

Yum! I added a little sweetness to them as well. Cinnamon and sugar.

 They smelled sooo good in here! Mixed with the cinnamon pine cones, cranberry and pumpkin candles, I was in heaven :) Anyway, we snacked on those and my birthday present from Treisha Peterson (my VT) while watching Heroes:

Halloween orange chocolate popcorn, with chunks of chocolate inside. YUM!!

 Okay, so we didn't eat the healthiest of foods yesterday, but who cares? It was a great Autumn day, and hubby was sick, too.


So, since we got a new computer from the in-laws, Gary decided to transfer old files over and install needed programs onto this new one. While doing so, I cleaned up the apartment some more (just started some laundry and cleaned out Chloe and the cat litter box), and then decided I wanted to hang up my wind chimes outside. Perfect time for it, right? Anyway, while in search of the right tools, I had to bug Gary for help as to where these tools were, until he got up and did it on his own. So sweet: :) Lol. So now we have the beautiful sound of wind chimes outside. I would at times open the patio door, but the wind was so strong I ended up opening the window (with a screen, thank goodness), so I could still hear the sounds of outside, as well as the weather, without the dirt and leaves flying in, haha.


Anyway, after some lounging around, I decided it was time to use my birthday money and do some shopping! I invited Gary, who declined, reminding me he was sick that day. So, I first headed to Barnes and Noble, where I did some book browsing. Didn't buy anything, surprisingly, and moved on. Since I had to get a few things at Sam's Club anyway, I went there. I bought the few needed groceries, and while heading to the register, stopped by the electronics section. I hadn't originally planned on buying anything relating to electronics, but wanted to take a look. Well, I bought something anyway. I bought the EA Sports Active for Wii, personal trainer edition.

 I thought, why not? It came with the above equipment, and it was my money, so I wanted to try it out. So on the drive home, I decided I wanted to do something nice for the sick husband. Since his favorite food of all time is pizza, I stopped by Pavilions and bought some BBQ chicken pizza, as well as cheese sticks with dipping sauce. I brought that home, and made husband a happy husband. We watched half of some goofball comedy movie, and then I made some homemade body scrub. It's amazing! I'll share the ingredients: it's easy, and left my skin super soft and radiant looking.


Cinnamon Sugar Body Scrub:
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup olive oil


Mix those together, and there you go! The olive oil makes the skin super soft, and the sugar gets rid of dead/dry skin, and the cinnamon leaves your skin with a glow (and smelling good!). It's perfect for winter dry-skin season. My skin is still soft! You can put it in a jar, or as I did, in a Tupperware container. It'll last a while, too. Saves you a good amount of money!


Anyway, it was a great day yesterday, and we both crashed for the night shortly after. Gary went to work this morning, and I tried out my new game. It was fun! I chose my personal trainer, whom I workout with in the game. The game also keeps a workout journal, challenges, calories burned, and progress. I also got to choose my workout level (easy-hard), and they pick workouts for you, based on your level. There are over 20 different workouts, and you can unlock and download more after some time. You start off with a run, then do a variety of workouts, then cool off with a run. It was a great workout, and I'll probably feel it later. What I like more, is you can't just stop in the middle. THEY give you an amount of time to workout, and you have to stick with it. So, no quitting early! It's no less than 20 minutes, too. But yes...good game.


Anyway, time to tidy up the place, take my shower, and enjoy another day of Fall. Bye! Leaving with some pictures.


PS- Loving Windows 7

Not sexy AT ALL. But gooey pumpkin guts, eew.

Look at that concentration. Perfection, huh?

Raaaar!!!

And, the finished products. I almost gave up on mine. I picked such a detailed pattern, and ended up butchering some pieces just to get them to glow. There was supposed to be more to it, including a tree next to it, but blah. It looks well enough (the ghost). Gary's is pure awesome, though.

My Birthday Weekend

 Well, I had a long, but fun weekend! It felt good to come home and crash, though.

 Friday night, Gary and I went out and just did a little shopping. Didn't buy much, just wanted to spend some time together. On Saturday, we got up early and left for Bakersfield to visit family. We went to James' soccer game, which was too cute. I love how when watching a soccer game with little kids, you see a ball, then a swarm of children chasing it. James was super cute, too. Often times he'd be in lala land, but I was a lot like that too as a kid, haha. Anyway, don't know who won, we left when it was a 2 to 1, James' team in the lead.
After James' game, we headed clear across town to little Dylan's 1st birthday party. All I can say is wow! There were so many people there, and so many presents. What a popular and spoiled little boy. Super adorable, though, can't deny that.

When we left Dylan's party, we headed to my parents house, where we stayed for dinner and spent the night. I got some neat presents and good amount of money. The cake Carla made was really really good; in fact, I requested it, haha. But, the evening was fun. Quinn, Gary and I spent a good chunk of the evening talking about anything and everything. It's always good when Quinn's around , and it's always nice catching up, too.

My birthday cake. Yum!!

So, after a fun-filled night, Gary and I finally crashed in the family room. Gary slept on the air mattress, and I took the big comfy couch. I didn't fall asleep right away, because it was a bit TOO comfy, and I was wearing my thermal pj's. I got too warm and kicked them off. I was able to fall asleep quickly after that. I woke up to a meowing cat (Behemoth) who wanted to go outside.

Gary and I attended Sacrament with my fam, then headed off to Taft to visit his parents. We had a great time catching up, ate a delicious lunch, then spent some time chatting. I also helped my MIL make little crafts for her primary. They turned out super cute, and I was glad to help!

Finally we headed home, where we crashed for the night. We tried watching a scary movie to end my birthday, but we were too tired.

Anyway, here's one of my favorite presents:


It's a 12 gauge Ithaca Model 37 Featherlight shotgun. Thanks, Dad! It's a beauty, too. Gary's parents also gave us a new computer, which we already love. I'm also liking Windows 7 so far. Very nice!

Well, that was the weekend. Don't have much else to update. Later everyone!

Weekends Are Fun

     I always love the weekend.  I get to hang out and spend time with the husband, which is always perfect!  Even if we don't really go anywhere or do much, it's just nice having him here all day, ya know? 

    Anyway, just kind of a recap of our weekend.  Saturday morning, I slept until about 10:20am, which is much longer than usual.  I had a bit of trouble sleeping the night before, because I just couldn't get comfortable.  That, and Gary snores when he first falls asleep.  I snore too, he's just a heavier sleeper, and I'm a very light sleeper.  So anything keeps me up.  I wound up sleeping on the couch that night.  Dexter bothered me around 8:00 because he wanted food.  I kept shoving him off of me so I could sleep, but I finally got up around 8:30 because the little bugger wouldn't leave me alone, and fed the cats.  I crawled back to the couch to sleep more, and was on and off until I finally got up for the morning.  That was fun as always.  Anyway, Gary and I didn't go out until around 1, so we hung out inside and caught up on our TV shows until then.  We first went to a place in Valencia/Saugus called the Do It Center. It's a hardware type store.  We always drive by it, and last week I wondered aloud what the place was all about.  So we went.  And I really liked it!  Not only did we have fun looking at the Halloween displays (they had a tent set up, made from green garbage bags, and inside there was a fog machine as well as scary displays; like a little spook alley), but it just had a lot of nice little things.  We looked at the grills, since Gary's been thinking about getting a propane grill along with our charcoal...or to replace, whichever.  There were those big kitchen ones we liked looking at, with the island bars, mini-fridge's etc.  We want to have that when we have a home someday...an outdoor kitchen.  We were watching HGTV one day about outdoor kitchens, and the thought thrilled Gary, so he's been looking forward to us one day having our own; and same here!  But anyway, we liked the store.

     After we went to that place, we headed to Canyon Country where we visited some Pawn Shops.  Didn't get anything, just did some browsing.  We realized Persian guys always seem to be the most honest around here.  Our mechanic is Persian, and he's always been very honest.  He doesn't really pay much attention to me, but he likes Gary and seems more friendly to him.  Gary says sometimes in specific cultures, women aren't all that important.  But, it could have been he was just too busy that day, considering it was a pretty busy morning.  So I'll go with that.  I mean, me?  Not important?  Pshh...

    Anyway, we got home, sat around for a bit, until Gary mentioned pizza.  It's his favorite food of all time, but because we're being healthier, we don't have it very often.  Plus, it's not a favorite food of mine.  Loved it when I was a kid, but when I got older, I suddenly stopped liking it as much, and ended up developing some anti-bread appetite.  I don't like anything breaded, or that involves bread.  I eat it, because it's good for me, but I can only eat so much before I'm sick of it again.  Weird...but yes.  So, we got online to look at the nearest pizza places (we live next to one, but it seemed a bit pricey).  When Gary lived in Taft, he would go to a place called Pizza Factory.  He introduced me when we were first married and visited Taft.  They have these cheese sticks in the size of a large pizza, and they were delicious!  Anyway, we both thought it was only a local Taft thing, and while I thought out loud how it would be cool to have one near us, my eyes came across it in the Google listings for pizza search.  And, there was one in Castaic.  So we called over there, ordered those cheese sticks, as well as some chicken wings, and drove there to pick them up.  Castaic is such a cute little town; cheaper than Valencia, too.  We were only in a small area off the freeway, so we didn't see too much, but it was cute.  So, that was our dinner.

     (Castaic)

  We discussed purchasing a home in Castaic as well, since the prices have always been lower there.  But we'll see!  I still have a feeling California isn't our home.  Gary is planning on getting his Dr's Degree, so wherever that will take us, is fine with me!

  So, that was our Saturday.  Sunday was nice and spiritual as always, and we had a lovely lesson on Eternal Families.  One of my favorite topics!

  Well, time to have some breakfast, then head to the gym today. Bye!

Good Ol' Days

     Okay, so I originally wanted to post a blog last night, but since Blogger is... having issues, it deleted my post when I was pretty much done with it.

    So, we'll start off with Sunday, which was a great day! Gary had a pretty bad night and didn't fall asleep until about 4:30am! Poor guy. He tried sleeping on the couch, then back in the bedroom, then back out...eventually I moved out to the couch and slept there the rest of the night. Anyway, since Gary had finally fallen asleep, I got up, and sneaked off to Stake Conference myself. It was wonderful! We sustained our new Stake Presidency, and got to hear their testimonies, as well as many other spiritual testimonies.

  We met at our ward building instead of the stake building, because our stake is too big. We have 9 wards! So, as you can imagine, we couldn't all fit in one building...so our ward met at the Skycrest building (our ward building), and we watched a broadcast of it.

  For the first half, I wasn't feeling too well. I had forgotten my meds that morning (don't know if that was the reason or not), and I felt awful. I ended up saying a prayer halfway through that I'd make it through the rest. Of course, after my prayer, I felt wonderful and was able to sit through the rest. Walking out to my car was a different story. No clue what caused this, but this was seriously the closest I came to passing out. While walking to my car, my head felt like a balloon, my hearing went out, almost completely, and I saw spots. I felt like I was hanging upsidedown. Finally I sat down in my car, and said another prayer that I'd make it home safely. And of course, I did. Once I got home, I drank water, took my meds, and kicked it for a bit.

     Around dinner time, we grilled up juicy steaks (you know, Sunday being our grilling day). Well, actually Gary grilled them up, while I made and baked up some Apple Crisp, using some of our delicious apples. The steaks we had were London Broil, and they were HUGE!

(Of course we didn't eat all of it, no freaking way)







And I love this picture, especially with the fact he's lickin' his chops:

My lovely dessert (I quickly realized while taking this picture, it wasn't completely done. I had to pop it back in the oven for anothe 20 mins or so) And yes, I forgot to peel the apples :)

 So, after a big yummy and filling dinner, we settled down to some tv and husband and wifey time.

 And today has gone pretty well, too! I've spent a good chunk of it outside so far, so much that I missed Chrissy's call. Luckily I noticed it in time, and called her back. She invited me to the lake, where we took a couple of laps around, and did quite the chatting. She brought the cutest little guy, Spencer, along as well. It was very nice. This weather has been AMAZING!

So, that's been my day so far. Got home, did some cleaning, ate some fruit, and now I have a few places to go before husband comes home.

Leaving with a few pictures. I snapped a couple of the lake this morning before I met Chrissy:

this one's pretty :

It was even raining a bit this morning, and we should be definitely getting more rain later. Yay! I love clouds and wind!

PS- Just a story. I took Gary to the lake sometime last week, but at night. I had never been at night before. There were bunnies everywhere! So, while I was giggling and talking baby to the cute little bunnies, and while Gary was laughing at my cutesie voice, a coyote leapt out from bush within a few feet of us, grabbed one of the bunnies, and leapt back into the bush. We stood there for a second just blinking, then headed home a little sad, lol.

Husband Time= Best Time

 Exactly why I love the weekends!

 I know he comes home at 4pm every Mon-Fri, but it's still nice to have weekends with him. When he comes home from work, he'd rather unwind and stay home and not go out places with me. :)

 So, today has been great (and exhausting, too!). I made homemade cheddar bagels for brunch, which turned out...ehh. The first time I made bagels they were too thick, this time a little thinner, but too eggy (because you use an egg spread before you bake them). So, they were okay enough. Filling, too!

After brunch, we stayed home and hung out with each other until 5, when we went to the church building. We volunteered to clean it (the activities committee) today, so that's what we did. I tackled the bathrooms, and Gary scrubbed out the kitchen, while the others vacuumed and cleaned windows, etc. It felt nice after, knowing we did some service.

After cleaning the building, we headed on over to Dippin' Dots and had some yummy ice cream!

 So, then we finally headed over to Smart & Final (or, as Gary's boss calls it, Fart & Smile), where we bought a few things. When we got home, I received a request from husband to make pizza, so I whipped out my cooking skillz and made some homemade stuffed-crust pizza. I personally don't like pizza, at all, but I know it's his fave. It has a funny shape to it, but apparently it's yum:

 Anyway, the weather has been PERFECT!  So the patio is always opened, as well as windows. The sky has been gorgeous as well.

 Well, time to finish up the evening with my favorite person! Tomorrow is Stake Conference, too!

Bye!

Exciting Days

 You know, the ones leading up to Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then, of course, the best of all: Christmas. This whole trail of weeks is the best. My excitement for the Holiday Season only begins to kick in when the weather cools off dramatically. And since we had heatwaves earlier, it took awhile. But now with this weather and these temperatures, I'm finally excited!


 I think my big boost of joy was when Gary and I went to the DeMasters home after the Saturday session of Conference. Josh and Meg went to a Halloween store and bought awesome decorations for their place. It looks really neat...pumpkins, ghosts, glow in the dark slime (which is actually cotton material, of course), etc. So, it encouraged me and got me excited.We had a delicious dinner (hamburgers with green chili sauce), then all sat around and played Clue. It was quite confusing at first, because we had accidentally left one of the Clue cards in the box and forgot to hand it out. But once we realized it, we were able to figure out the puzzle rather quickly. Megan, though, beat us to it and won. We had fun! Well, minus the part where some of the meal gave some of us upset stomachs...mostly the men. I think, however, it wasn't the chile sauce...it might have been the salad. Oh, well.


 Anywho, after I spent some time doing my Monday cleaning (from the messy-husband weekend), I did some shopping .I only wanted to get a few decorations, so I went to the Dollar Tree to get them...cheap! So here are some pics:

This guy is supposed to be in dirt or grass or something, but we bought him last year. He goes on the wall.

Our little sign:

Another little dude in our living room:

And then, of course, the kitchen. Yes, that's totally an RIP thing next to the Proclamation to the World:

 He's glow-in-the-dark. And yes, I made him hold the flowers on the wall (accident at first, lol)

And this wonderful thing hanging in the hallway

 
 Nothing too fancy, just a few touches.

Well, I suppose that's all for now. Later!