A long picture update

At the end of October, all of the women in my family had a girls weekend. It was so fun to be with all of my sisters, sisters-in-law, and my mom all at once! And extra fun to see my sisters who live in Utah since I don't get to see them often enough. Since my mom and four of the girls live in Dallas and Houston, only three of them had to fly in from Utah, so we pooled some money together and (thanks mostly to our parents' extra air miles), got everyone together for a couple of days. All of our husbands were very sweet to support this weekend get-together (especially the ones with kids at home).

We got pedicures, went to lunch in downtown McKinney at the old town square, window-shopped, and enjoyed catching up and eating good food. We also gave individual "classes" -- each girl took about 20 minutes to talk about and teach the others about anything they wanted to. I talked about what I had learned so far in my MBA. There was a chocolate-tasting class, one about children's books, a hair tutorial, discussions about gospel topics/general conference talks, and a class about ways to find good deals and discounts. It was a really fun idea, and it gave us all a chance to learn something new! Also, since it was the weekend before Halloween, we of course all dressed up for my parents' Trunk or Treat party.

 Even the baby got her toenails painted.

 

 Mario Kart - Princess Peach and her handsome Mario (complete with his big belly and mustache).

 Dad and all the girls

Adam made the karts all by himself!

 Saying goodbye at the airport

A few weeks before girls weekend, Adam and I went to Scottsdale, AZ for a work function. We spent the weekend getting totally spoiled -- Adam played golf, tennis, and went to workshops, while I went to the spa to get a facial and mani/pedi, hung out with the other spouses at the pool, and drank too many virgin strawberry daiquiris. We also enjoyed some time together kayaking on the Salt River (I think?), relaxing in the hot tub, and drinking more virgin strawberry daiquiris and pina coladas. After the all-expenses paid trip, we felt way too spoiled and were ready to get back to normal life (although I have craved a daiquiri or two since then). We were very grateful for the experience though and enjoyed celebrating Adam's 25th birthday there, as well!

The birthday boy and me at a(n) (almost all) white party

Adam works with some pretty awesome people.

Since then, we've enjoyed life at home. We went to the Texas State Fair one weekend and tried out some new fried foods this year, including fried Thanksgiving dinner, fried avocado slices, and fried cheesecake (all of which were good, but we thought got better...in that order). We also had to go meet the new Big Tex, of course.

Since we happen to live so close to (my) home, I take as many opportunities as I can get to be with family (as long as Adam can stand it). My mom and I meet up for lunch before I go to school sometimes, which is always really great.

Two weekends ago, Adam and I enjoyed going to the Dallas Arboretum. Every season brings some awesome scenery at this place. I didn't want to miss the fall landscaping this year because it's, as you can see, amazing.

That same weekend, my grandma was in town visiting my parents, so I went up north again to spend some time with her.

And lastly, this past weekend was the bomb.com. We went to Dave & Busters for another work event and won just a few tickets:

Then, we decided to go be party animals and went to the 10:00 showing for The Hunger Games. After getting home late that night, we slept in the next morning, I accompanied Adam to the driving range, we went over to friends' house to watch the (sad) BYU game, grabbed dinner at In N Out, and hurried over to the stake center to hear Elder Perry speak at our stake conference. We love him and could feel his spirit very strongly. It reminded me of how awesome BYU is and how many opportunities I had to be in the same room (or arena) as an apostle. I can't believe he is 91 years old -- he has so much spunk!

On Sunday, we went back to the church to hear from him again, sustained a new stake president, had friends over for waffles, and then enjoyed a quiet Sunday to ourselves.

We feel so blessed and are grateful for everything that God has given us. We love our life!