Friday's Fabulous Five

1. Adam braved the cold and skipped out on sleep on Black Friday and was able to get the computer and a few other things that we wanted all at doorbuster prices at Best Buy!

2. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Beckstrom's and that there were so nice to have my brother Clark and cousin Dave over too.

3. All of Adam's fingers still work this year after an intense Turkey Bowl with family and friends...that is all of his fingers but his pointer that he shattered a few years ago on thanksgiving day.

4. I had a LONG weekend with my family and we listened to christmas music and put up holiday decorations!

5. We were lucky enough to help out with the Thanksgiving feast by cooking a second turkey to supplement the big bird cooked by my mother-in-law. We thought we would be adventurous and brine the turkey the night before in a solution of salt, sugar, pepper, and water. We highly recommend this technique as both turkeys turned out delicious...isn't food the best!

This list could and probably should be many, many items longer what with it being thanksgiving weekend, but in the sake of time we will leave it at five. Just know that we have much to be grateful for this holiday season.

Undefeated MWC Champions 12-0!!!

What a game! First, we just have to thank Andrea's dad Wayne for giving us two of his tickets while he is out and about on a Mediterranean cruise! After being at the game, we are not sure where we would have rather been...Rice Eccles or Rome. Okay, I guess it is not that difficult of a decision. The utes were absolutely amazing...BCS busters again. I know that some of you might think that we are too mature to do a crazy thing like rush the field, but here we are proving you all wrong. Luckily we had our phone camera to capture the moment! So fill your lungs, and sing it out, and shout it to the sky. We'll fight for dear old Utah, for a Utah
Man am I! GO UTES!!!

Friday's Fabulous Five

1- We had a Thanksgiving dinner with my family this week! My parents, Matthew and Erika have left for an exotic Mediterranean cruise and so they will be gone for Thanksgiving. Yes, Corinne, Clark, and I had our moments of sadness when the plans changed from July and we could not go...but we are so glad that they are off sailing and having a wonderful time I'm sure!
2- We get to go on a double date with Clark to the UTAH game! We love hanging out with Clarkie and I am so excited! That is a definite benefit of my dad being gone for the game...we got his tickets! Thanks dad!
3- Today is Adam's last weekend LSAT class...hooray!! He is working so hard and takes it in 2 weeks.
4- I got more Christmas shopping done today and we are almost done! I love trying to find that perfect gift for people, it's going to be a great holiday season!
5- Caroline's stocking is almost done, I just have to finish the cute little bobbles.

Beautiful Colorado!

Our little vacation was so much fun. There will be more pictures to come, but for now we will show the picture that our new friend Prahlad took of our family. We met a group of guys who were there for a trip and our camera was out of batteries. One of the guys offered to take a picture for us and send it to us. He actually did! I had already forgotten about it when it showed up in Adam's e-mail. What a nice person.
Anyway, this is at Seven Falls which was beautiful. Adam and Caroline picked me up during my lunch break at the conference and we went sight seeing. We took an elevator up to the viewpoint and it was warm and nice up there. There was also the option of taking stairs up to the falls. So we went back down the elevator, and looked up the steep, long stairway and began our trek. We only went up about 240 stairs, and remember Adam was carrying an extra 25 pounds with Caroline. When we had gone up and back down, both of our legs started getting charlie horses like mad! We couldn't stop laughing because we were trying to walk, but it was hard. Then we had to go down about 2 steps to the parking lot and barely made that. Ok, I knew I was a little out of shape...but apparently it's worse than I thought!

Friday's Fabulous Five

1- Speaking in church is over!...and went well. Right before it was my turn to speak, Caroline spotted Adam and I on the stand, pointed to us and loudly said, "HI!" It was so sweet and it calmed my nerves completely.
2- Caroline has the best grandparents that took care of her while mommy and daddy and spoke! Thanks to all of you for coming, it meant so much to us.
3- Caroline and Adam spent some quality time at the Colorado Springs Zoo. They got to see the largest captive giraffe herd in the world, with 19 giraffes. The giraffes were face to face with them!
4- Caroline sat through an entire Sacrament Meeting...well stayed occupied I should say! Adam only had to go out to fill her sippy cup. It was very exciting! Does anyone have any good tips and ideas on how to keep toddlers busy during Sacrament Meeting? We would love to hear them!
5- Last week was our brother-in-law's birthday, Justin, and our sweet nephew's Nicholas and Andrew turned 8 and 10! We love all of you so much...Happy Birthday!

Perspective

I just spent about a 1/2 hour reading an old friend's blog about her sweet baby. I actually received a letter in the mail from Primary Children's Hospital about "Pennies by the Inch" and how all the money that is donated goes to wonderful things and helps so many. There was a letter included with a picture. As I read the letter and looked closer, I realized that I knew the beautiful mother. Her baby boy, who she waited 2 years to get, had been in the hospital for 3 months. The tears poured as I read this letter, and moreover when I read captions from her blog. I will often have little troubles throughout my day, that I think are such a big deal. I am so grateful that I have been humbled and that things have been put into perspective for me. So many blessings and comforts in my life go unnoticed each day. What a perfect time of year to recommit to focusing on all of those wonderful things each day.

Gardner Village!

About a week ago we went to Gardner Village with some friends from the fabulous work playgroup, Amanda and Jack Hilton. Jack is the cutest little boy and so good mannered! Caroline and Jack didn't love that their mothers were trying to pose them for pictures with the bright sun in their eyes (top picture). They did love riding the horses and going to the petting zoo.
At one point, Caroline went right up to a goat and was about 2 inches from his face and just started telling him the most exciting story. He seemed interested for a moment, but then it was too hard for him to keep up with what she was saying! It was so fun to hang out with the Hilton fam on such a perfect, sunny day!

Friday's Fabulous Five

1- On Wednesday I got to be home ALL day with my sweet family, in the cozy, cozy snow. Adam and I watched a chick flick in front of the fire and drank hot cocoa. Blissful and dreamy!
2- The UTES beat TCU in the last few minutes of the game. It was so exciting and now we are 10-0!
3- Work was rewarding today and all of the patient's left saying they felt "a little bit better".
4- Our sweet friends, the Ribgy's, had their new baby Madeline. Congratulations!
5- We got to watch our darling nephews Wed. night. Liam and Caroline were so cute together and played peek-a-boo behind the Lovesac. They kept giggling over and over. Also, when Caroline says "giggle, giggle" it is hilarious. She also loves to say "tickle, tickle" and tickle the crease of my knees.

Beckstrom family Halloween party!

It was so fun to get together with all of the cousins a couple of Saturdays ago. They had fun checking each others costumes out and they especially loved bouncing on the trampoline together. We stuffed ourselves silly and drank apple cider with a frozen ghost in it! (When you put the dry ice in the cider the ghost comes out!) It is always so fun to be with family, thanks for the parties everyone!!

I also had to add a pic from Trick-or-Treating! We were able to go with our friends Alex, Evelyn, and cute little Austin. We didn't know if the big event of going out to get some treats was going to happen because sweet Caroline had a very sad outburst. We pulled up to Adam's parents house to park. Blake and Gae were out of town and so we didn't plan on going inside. Well, Caroline had a different agenda and really wanted to see Grandma and Grandpa! So, as we walked across the street to meet Alex and Evelyn, Caroline had a meltdown...a pretty long one. It was very, very sad. The Rindlisbacher family was so patient and waited it out and then we went out on the town. It was so much fun and Caroline tried to hold ALL the candy that she got in her hands (notice the picture), she was in heaven. It turned out to be a very Happy Halloween!

p.s. still to come, I am just slow...pics of Gardner Village with cute little Jack Hilton and our pumpkins!

Tagged!

I was tagged by Corinne! And I am a nerd and was extremely excited about it.

8 shows I love to watch:
1. The Office
2. The weather..I am kind of obsessed about it...I love to know if it's going to snow, or be cozy with rain, or sunny!
3. UTAH Football games
4. I truly can't think of more...I'll add movies....Clue
5. Big Business
6. Life is Beautiful
7. Home videos!

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Cheesecake Factory
2. Market Street Broiler
3. Silver Fork Lodge up Big Cottonwood Canyon
4. Porcupine Grill
5. Cafe Rio
6. Paradise Bakery
7. Texas Roadhouse...the fresh, hot rolls with honey butter
8. Red Rock

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Got to hold one of my patient's babies while I met with her
2. Saw a gorgeous sunrise on the way to work
3. Dressed up like Elasta Girl or Helen Parr
4. Went trick-or-treating with Evelyn, Alex, and Austin
5. Visited Great Grandma Beckstrom and Jeff

6. Got clothes ready for Caroline's pictures this morning!

7. Ate delicious pumpkin spice cake that my sweet hubby brought me

8. Got asked to speak in church.

8 things I look forward to:
1. Going on our little vacation in just over a week
2. raking leaves today and playing in them with Caroline
3. Seeing the pictures that we got done of Caroline today
4. Adam taking the LSAT
5. The end of the thesis
6. the holiday season
7. Getting home from work and seeing my sweet baby's face and getting a big hug.
8. Spending time with Adam and Caroline

8 things I love about fall:
1. the smell
2. the changing leaves
3. the cute clothes to wear
4. Halloween!
5. parties
6. it leads into the holiday season
7. dressing up for Halloween
8. all the fun activities!

8 things on my wish list:
1. That Adam's thesis will be done soon.
2. That we can stay here for law school
3. That I can pass my Nurse Pratitioner test
4. That we can have lots of healthy babies
5. That I could make time slow down and not forget one moment of the life of our sweet baby
6. to travel somewhere exotic like the Maldive Islands off of India, or Thailand again with Adam
7. that I can do all the right things for the patient's that I see
8. Some sort of newer car that doesn't scream whenever I pull out, it's sooo loud, you just have to laugh

8 people I tag:Amanda, Jen, Sarah, Jess, Gae, Jamilyn whoever feels like it!

Happy Halloween!

Here is the Kitty Litter cake with pooper scooper, tootsie rolls, and all. It's delicious, but pretty hard to get yourself to eat!

































Let the festivities begin! This week has been jam packed full of Halloween fun. Yes, we were the Incredibles and Caroline fits the description of Dash...she is ALWAYS on the move! She loved wearing her mask and kept it on almost the entire time at each party. She would even bring it up to us and say, "Pees" (please) to have us put it on.