Sunday, November 16, 2008

My 27th Birthday!

Well, I admit that it hasn't really sunk in yet. I feel younger in my head than my body feels and than I actually am. So anyway here is the scoop on my birthday.
First thing in the morning, Amy woke me up a few times because she was having nightmares about the following not going according to plan. Then she brought me a delicious breakfast which started off everything.



Breakfast included eggs, bacon, pancakes, and the following note:

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! I've got someting fun instore to do. Are you ready for some clues? Today we are going on a treasure hunt for presents you won't want to punt. Hope you enjoy the fun without delay, For today is your 27th Birthday!"

Clue #1

"As soon as you are ready to go, Head for the place where we sit in the front row. A place of worship, a place of love, Where our faith & testimonies can grow."

So we went to the church where I got this present (organ music books). WHOO HOOOO! New music!!! I love new music!




and the next clue:

Clue #2

"Now that you've found some music to play, Perhaps you should see where we're going next today. Go to the place you first went to school, The place where you did a project as a scout so cool"

Being at my elementary school brought back a lot of memories. It was fun to see the changes since I'd last been there.

Clue #3

"Congrats! you've made it this far. Now it's time to go back to the car. Drive to your next place of learning, Where your tush & legs would get some burning."

We had to avoid the girls practicing soccer and find the clue taped to the building near the track at my Jr high school.

Clue #4

"After you take a couple of laps, Follow the included two maps. They lead to a place you'd go when mad, the best little hideout you ever had."

This hideout of course was in the backyard at home.


Clue #5
"Are you getting tired yet? I hope not because now we've got to jet. It's off to your best man's house we go. To get your next clue, an answer to a question you must know."
We went to the Waisath's house where I found the next clue.

Clue #6

"Q: What's big and blue and goes all over? [Ans: my car] Great job! You're a winner! The number of clues are getting thinner. If you look in your glove box, you'll find some music that rocks!"
The music was the CD from last year's MoTab concert with the King Singers. I highly recommend it. :) Oh and incidentally, fortunately I was on the phone with Amy's mom, who provided the answer to the clue. I never would have gotten the car because I was thinking really big... like the sky... ocean... etc.

Clue #7

"Jing jing jing jing jing jing jing. Now as we listen to MoTab sing, Let's get ourselves going to Federal Way. Best Buy awaits you there, OK?"


We spent some time just looking around in Best Buy to see what cool things they were selling.

Clue #8

"While you're looking for something you want, You'll be looking for letters in font, Follow the puzzle below, and the place we're going for dinner you'll know."
So I made Amy squirm when I figured out the puzzle in record time and it really bugged her that I figured out the answer without even knowing all the words in the puzzle. We were going to Panda Express...



Clue #9

"Chinese food is really good, Just as Panda said it would. Here he is to say 'Skadoosh!' Let's go home with a woosh!"

There was also a gift I got from Amy here--- the "Kung Fu Panda" DVD. The funny thing was that at Panda Express, I got a fortune in the fortune cookie that said "A pleasant surprise is in store for you." So we went home and then to my pleasant surprise, my family was there to sing happy birthday to me (except Kaylee who doesn't like to be around us). My cake was amazing and the smoke filled air didn't kill anyone, or set off the smoke detectors.

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes! I had a wonderful birthday.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Fun Halloween Week!

Guys' Hunting Trip

The fun week started with a hunting trip for the boys. Nate, his dad, and Landis left really early in the morning last Saturday with the dogs for Ellensburg, WA up in the mountains. While they were gone, Valerie and I went shopping (tee hee!). We checked out the grand opening of the new Costco here and did a bunch of other little errands. We walked around the Kent Station mall and had lunch at Panera Bread. It was a lot of fun! It was nice to get some girl time in while the boys were having their boy time. I will let Nate tell about the hunting trip:

It was a good long walk. The dogs were so excited they couldn't control themselves and couldn't be controlled. Kia scared up two pheasants and they were too far ahead of us to get a shot off. My dad shot once and missed. I went through another grassy area with the dogs and scared up two pheasants and they flew back towards my dad and Landis. I nicked one but couldn't find it. I think it hit the ground and ran. So we walked across the field trying to scare more up, but couldn't find any more. Meg got thirsty and decided to go down to the canal for a drink. She got down there and couldn't stop because it was steep and ran right into the water. It was too steep for her to come back up so I had to rescue her. She cried all the way back to the car because she was tired and sore. We got back to the car, ate some goodies, and came home tired and empty-handed. These are some of the pictures I took on the way, during the hunt, and back at the car afterwards.







Trunk or Treat

This year for Halloween we decided to reuse the costumes we spent so much money on last year (yay for thriftiness!). Nate was a pirate and I was Elizabeth Swan. We wore our costumes to the ward Trunk or Treat last Saturday and decorated our trunk with lots of fun pirate stuff, courtesy of Stacey and Landis (thanks guys!). We put the candy in a treasure chest and called it our treasure and we even put out a "plank" for the kids to walk in order to get their candy. Nate was a very mean and scary pirate (that smiled a lot...lol) and I tried to get my British accent on. It was fun!




Stacey, Landis, Heidi, and Cirdan and their kids came to visit us. They had such cute costumes! Check out Heidi's blog for more pics of that. The kids made bank on the activity because they continued to go around the row of cars over and over until all of the candy was gone. That's the way to trick or treat!

Casey's Baby Blessing

Last Sunday lots of family came over for Casey's baby blessing (Nate's sister Stacey's baby). The blessing was so precious and it was a happy time for everybody. There was a lot of goodies to eat and it was nice to visit with family members. Casey was so cute in his little white outfit!



Nathan in the kitchen, where he tends to be most of the time, making and serving hot cider for everyone. Yum!


Halloween at Work and Home

My work decided to let us have lots of fun for Halloween. They let us wear our costumes to work and had us bring in pumpkins that we carved for the pumpkin carving contest. This is the table of all the pumpkins that were entered. Can you guess which one's mine? Okay, okay I'll tell you. It's the weird one on the very left.


This is the full picture of my wormy pumpkin. I got the idea from the internet and decided last minute Thursday night that I would do it. I had to do it all really fast but after the customer and employee votes, I won scariest pumpkin!



I had to take a picture of the Wilson pumpkin because it just made me laugh. It was a lot of fun and everybody went all out with their costumes. Here are some other girls from work that had similar costumes to mine (princess/royalty type). I love playing dress up!

Then when I got home we had corn dogs and french fries (fried at home) for dinner and then made donuts and homemade root beer. YUMMY!


It was SO good! I think I can see the donuts piling up on my love handles...lol. There weren't a lot of trick-or-treaters so we were able to just chill and watch TV for the rest of the night. What a fun Halloween week!!