We live in a Christmas House!!

Levi strongly believes that Christmas belongs only in the month of December, no sooner, and no later. This year though, I broke down his defenses and we started decorating the day after Thanksgiving. :D As we hung silver garland strands around our living room and dining room, I heard him singing “We live in a Christmas house, we live in a Christmas house!”

We even bought stockings this year, hung over the TV with care.

Last year I just did silver and red decorations since most of the wedding presents under our tree were wrapped in similar colors. Levi really wanted blue ornaments though, so this year our Arbon tree ended up looking pretty Patriotic.

To go along with the Christmassy sights, we had to add taste and smells. My absolute FAVORITE cookie recipe this year is for Caramel Apple Sugar Cookies. I drool just looking at these pictures…

That recipe will soon be posted too. It’s too good not to share!

We are SO ready for Santa to come!

Cookies and Cream Fudge

Just kidding! Kinda. Do I make fudge? No. But I am slightly addicted to this fanTAStic version of "cheaters' fudge". Who knew sweet and condensed milk could be so great? I got the recipe from here and it is now a family favorite!

(FYI: My cell phone takes atrocious pictures. Someday I'll change this to a pic that will
make your mouth water properly. But for now, you get the general idea.)

Ingredients:

A bag and a half of white chocolate chips
1 can of sweet & condensed milk
10-15 oreos, broken up

Directions:

Line a 9×9 inch square pan with parchment paper.

Put the white chocolate and condensed milk in a large pan and heat very gently over a low heat, stirring frequently, until the chocolate has melted. The mixture should be smooth and stick to itself. Stir in the broken oreos.

Scrape the mixture into the pan and level it, pushing it into all the corners (you’ll probably need another set of hands here to keep the parchment paper in place until your mixture gets in there). Put the pan in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight, for the fudge to set. Cut into squares (I did 8 by 8).

Ohhh October!

October proved to be a month of random firsts. For example, it was the first time that I attended a live session of conference...

The choir was amazing and made me cry.

 

In other news, it was also the first time that I came home and found a snake sitting by my front door…

That sucker was BIG, ok! I debated on whether or not this was a large enough emergency for the police to be called. But when I went back outside, he’d disappeared!! Please oh please let him be gone for good…

 

Another first: I helped Levi butcher a deer. Right in my tiny kitchen. But I also learned that God answers unspoken prayers, because that happened to be the day I got a massive cold so that I at least couldn’t smell anything. My gag reflex only kicked in a few times thankfully.

 

Hooray for my mighty hunter!

Eventually those antlers will be up on a wall somewhere in our apartment. But I’ll worry about that when the time comes.

 

I also made Halloween treats for the first time ever. My V.T. ladies were the guinea pigs for my witch hat cookies.

  

Keebler Elf Striped cookies, orange frosting, and a Hershey’s kiss to top it off. Levi tried to eat all of them before I could deliver them, and he doesn’t even like chocolate!

And lastly, I dressed up for Halloween for the first time since I was 11. Levi and I brainstormed for weeks before he came up with:

 

 

Bandit and Frog, from “Smokey and the Bandit”. (Sorry for the extreme blurriness, I think Cody’s blowup fat man suit made his hands a little unsteady.) Levi made a very convincing Burt Reynolds with his felt mustache and faded bell bottom jeans (old Vanity jeans of mine that he somehow squeezed into. I will never wear them again.)

We had a ton of fun at a Halloween party with lots of friends at Cody & Chelsea’s, eating, carving pumpkins, and watching the classic “Hocus Pocus”.

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A week later, we celebrated my 20^th birthday! I’m officially no longer a teenager. :D

Levi surprised me with a great present.

New scriptures! With my married name on them. :) They’ll get a lot of use over the next many many years. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, cards, and gifts!

And lastly, did I mention I got a job? Wahoo!! I did! Having a jacked up back has paid off. I was going to the chiropractor through October and at the end of the month, the doctor said he needed a receptionist. (He's only been open for a few months, so he's just now getting busy enough that he really needs a receptionist.) And so, I started work last week. :D

Upgraded Rig

Levi decided it was time for us to upgrade from the Jeep to a truck. He bought the Jeep the same week that we started dating, so I was pretty attached to it. How would we load everyone into one car now and go to Idaho Falls for 4^th of July? And what would we use for shade while sitting at Stone Reservoir?

We let the Jeep go out in style though!

Jazz will be missed!

Levi searched and searched for a truck that met his incredibly specific requirements (silver, under 150,000 miles, double cab, bed size, engine type, spotless interior, etc.) and ended up finding one at a dealership here in town, where a very good family friend works. Completely different situation from the Mazda. ;) Thank heavens. 

He did get an awesome deal and it’s in great shape. Welcome to the family, Jack!

Familía

First week of August my family came to town! HOORAY! Mom, Dad, and the kids stayed one night with us before going on to Oregon for a week. Longest week ever. When they came back, Dad got to stay one more night before he had to go back to Nebraska to work. But Mom and my kiddos got to stay a few more days. :D It was so great to see my family again!

I didn’t realize until now exactly how much I suck at picture taking haha. I didn’t get one picture of my entire family, but managed to snap a couple random ones here and there. This one of Zane trying on hats in TJ Maxx made me crack up. Ü

After we had to say good bye, I decided that my hair needed something different. So…

I straightened it for the first time in… months? Years? I’m pretty sure it’d probably been about 2 years since I was curl-less. AND, this is the first time I’d ever done it with an actual straightener instead of a curling iron. Thaaaaanks Cami!! :D