Pumpkin Thief

Last night Easton and I carved pumpkins in an attempt to fully embrace the Halloween spirit. We roasted pumpkin seeds, baked pumpkin muffins, watched scary movies, and spent a few hours meticulously carving our perfect pumpkins. Easton carved an impressive witch and I chose a kitty (with adorable whiskers and everything!) for my pumpkin.

After working for three hours with those tiny little pumpkin-carving utensils, I finally finished my masterpiece and couldn't wait to put it on the front doorstep. Easton and I put candles in our pumpkins and brought them outside to view the full effect. After briefly admiring our handiwork, we went inside to eat a pumpkin muffin and find the camera to immortalize our creations. We were in the house for no more than ten minutes...and when we came outside again my pumpkin was GONE! I expected to find it smashed in the street by some little hooligans, but there was absolutely no trace of my cute pumpkin. I still have absolutely no idea what happened to it, and I don't even have a single picture to illustrate my hours of hard work.

This is Easton's beautifully crafted pumpkin:

And here is Easton proudly displaying his artwork...
while I proudly display my anger:

Still pouting. So sad...

On that note, I have a message for the dirty pumpkin thief that ruined my night: I sincerely hope that you run into the Blair Witch, or Freddy Krueger, or Hannibal Lecter, or Jigsaw from those awful "Saw" movies, or any other equally terrifying villain...and I hope they teach you a lesson about stealing other people's pumpkins!

28 is Super Great!

Yes, it's true...I'm another year older. Yesterday was my birthday and I had such a fun day! Easton planned dinner with a few friends at Olive Garden, and then we gorged ourselves on Easton's special fudgie-bottom cake (which was SO delicious...even though the tremendous number of candles on top almost set off the smoke alarm). We spent the rest of the night playing Rock Band because I just can't seem to get enough of that rad game.

I got some really fun birthday gifts from my family, and Easton blessed me with this little beauty:

Although my birthday was a blast, I won't deny that I do not enjoy this whole getting older business. I am really starting to feel ancient! The other day I actually found myself storming upstairs to tell the boys that live in the apartment above me to turn down their music! Those crazy kids.

Arizona Antics

Earlier this month Easton and I jumped in the car and drove down to Phoenix for the wedding of our friends Curtis and Candace. Our driving buddies were Wyatt and his girlfriend Courtney, and we all survived the many hours in the car by eating way too much junk food and singing along to old, sappy music. I'm pretty sure that the song "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins will forever remind me of that road trip.

Curtis and Candace had a beautiful wedding! They are beyond cute together and it is clear that they make each other so happy.

Here we are with the blissful couple at the rehearsal dinner:

The reception was gorgeous! I caught the bouquet and Wyatt fought off all the other boys for the garter. Our dates were spotted running towards the exit shortly thereafter.

The trek to Phoenix was also a perfect excuse to visit some old friends! Our friend Tom graciously offered to let us stay in his magnificent house, and my sister Courtney drove out from L.A. so that we could all play together. We had absolutely no trouble filling the time between wedding activities!

We started off with an outing to the lake and some pedal boat adventures...

...spent Saturday at an outdoor festival with lots of live music...

...took full advantage of Tom's amazing hot tub (of course Easton thought it would be absolutely hilarious to try and throw me in the pool)...

...and naturally we spent countless hours playing my favorite game ever: Rock Band!

When the weekend came to an end (sad!) I decided to get in the car with Courtney and head home to Cali for a couple of days. On the way back we drove through...drum roll please...Blythe, California! Of course we had to pull over on the side of the freeway and snap a couple pictures amidst a barrage of honking and catcalls.

I need to send out a HUGE thanks to Tom for taking us in and entertaining us! I had a blast and I can't wait to go back!

Oktoberfest

My roommates and I went up to Snowbird a couple of weeks ago to celebrate Amanda's birthday and we were lucky enough to be there during Oktoberfest! There were people running around everywhere in lederhosen, and we were surrounded by German music, food, and big beer steins.

We had so much fun riding the mechanical bull, the alpine slide, and the zipline, along with all of the other fun outdoor activities in Snowbird.

This is what happens when you lie about your weight to get stronger bungee cords so that you'll bounce higher on the trampolines: I kept flying all over the place when I would do a flip on the trampoline and then I'd get stuck up high where my feet couldn't reach the tramp. The attendant kept having to lower me down so that I could start jumping again, and the whole time he had this suspicious look on his face like he knew I had been dishonest.

We took the tram up to the top of the mountain and the scenery was absolutely beautiful! We had to start our descent back down the mountain sooner than planned because of a lightning and thunder storm that spoiled our fun, and the tram ended up getting stuck halfway down the mountain. The storm was raging all around us while we dangled in our little steel box, and it is never a good sign when the operator tells you not to touch the metal sides of the tram in case it gets struck by lightning. Yikes.

We did eventually make it back down the mountain, but my hair was sticking straight up from all the static. I had no idea that Snowbird was so much fun during the off-season! I highly recommend heading up there before all the Oktoberfest merrymaking is over!

Monkey Wrench

Last weekend Easton and I went on a little getaway trip to Las Vegas to take a break from our hectic schedules in Utah. Easton needed to pick up some Hobie Cat sailboats he bought on ebay while we were down there, but I must admit that my personal motivation for our Vegas jaunt was a Foo Fighters concert at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this concert. That's right, I said awesomeness...you're allowed to make up words when nothing in the dictionary will suffice. The venue was really small and we ended up standing SO close to the stage. If it weren't for the big bouncers who insisted on getting in the way, we probably could have reached out and grabbed Dave Grohl...and I seriously considered doing so every time Dave rocked out with his guitar.

This Foo Fighters concert was absolutely one of the best concerts I have ever been to! Dave put on such an incredible show and drummer Taylor Hawkins performed a mind-blowing drum solo. I had whiplash for at least three days after the concert because I was jumping around so much! I ended up missing my high school reunion because I opted for the concert, and I can easily say that it was one hundred percent worth it. I'm sure I would have really enjoyed seeing all of the people from high school again...but they'll just never be as rad as Dave Grohl.

Our next order of business in Vegas was to pick up the two Hobie Cats that Easton and Ty had bought on ebay. The seller lived in Bullhead City, Arizona, which was about an hour away from Las Vegas. Our visit to Bullhead City was interesting, to say the very least. The whole city seemed to consist of trailer parks, and we spent hours in the 106 degree heat getting the sailboats and trailers ready to travel. By the time we got the boats back to Vegas I was totally sunburned, my hair was stuck to my face, and I felt like I had run a marathon.

If you ever take the time to admire the view of Utah Lake and you happen to see a lightning-fast blur out on the water, it will probably be Easton on one of these bad boys: