Halloween

Life is crazy. It's true. And I completely ran out of time to finish making my original plan for costumes. So instead, Brady and I borrowed some things last minute and hurried to find costumes. Brady looked very dashing in a Spiderman costume (sorry, no pics! He refused haha), and I threw together a costume I saw on Pinterest. We went with some friends in our costumes to Mama Chus, a Mexican restaurant Provo. Yes, we were the only ones dressed up. Yes, we got a lot of weird looks haha. But it was worth it! Brady would disagree haha :)

She's a fish killer! Darla from Finding Nemo :) 

Chalk the Block

This year, Brady and I went to the "Chalk the Block" Art Festival at the Shops at Riverwoods again, but we went this time with one of my best friends Amanda and her boyfriend. We were sooo amazed at how people can create something so beautiful with just chalk! It blew us away...

The one below totally reminded Brady of Madagascar! :)  

I think this one was my favorite! It was incredible how they made the water look...

He's In!!!!

Brady got accepted to the finance program at Brigham Young University!! He has worked so hard, and it's paid off! I am so proud of and grateful for my super smart husband :) Before we knew he'd been accepted, we had talked about what our backup plan would be if we wasn't...and we weren't really sure. But while we waited and prayed, we just kept feeling peace, like everything would be okay either way. Heavenly Father seriously does answer prayers. It's so great to know that someone is watching out for us :)

Scottish Festival

This year I went with my good friend Amanda to the Scottish Festival down in Payson. I had no idea something like this even existed in Utah! With all the ginger beer, kilts, costumes, and celtic music, it definitely was a unique cultural experience. And let me tell you...it was a blast :)

These were some replicas of weapons Scottish clans actually used. Scary!!

This game is called the sheep toss. Don't worry, no sheep were harmed in the process haha. Instead, these guys would stab a huge bale of hay with a pitchfork and toss it backwards over what looks like a field goal post. Totally reminded me of the movie Brave.

Celtic music is soooo fun! I was totally jealous of this violinist - reminded me of playing in high school orchestra. I miss it a lot.

AF Canyon 5k

The AF Canyon Half-Marathon and 5k was a hit again this year! This race is hosted by Intermountain Healthcare’s Cancer Centers, and 100 percent of proceeds are donated toward helping patients afford cancer treatments.This race is easily the best race EVER! You get tons of cool "swag", awesome shirts, and Kneader's french toast at the end. What more needs to be said?

Brady and I ran the 5k again this time (we'll shoot for the half next year...again :) ) This year we wore t-shirts to support one of my coworkers. His sister was killed in a car accident earlier this year. She loved running, so my coworker and his fiancee created a running team in honor of her.

It was so great to participate in the race this year! We look forward to 2014!

Moab Red Rock Relay

Brady was invited to run the Moab Red Rock Relay for the first time this year with his dad and some friends from the home ward. The race is 70 miles long (seriously) and ran by a team of six people. Each person runs two legs of the race. Brady was a little nervous since he hasn't ran a lot this year, but he ended up being assigned a total of 8-9 miles and did AWESOME! It was super hot all day, easily in the 90s, but got super cold once we were in the mountains. We even had hail! Crazy but seriously fun experience :)

We had two total teams in the race. The first picture is of both teams together, and the one on the bottom left is our team. 

We had lots of fun decorating Craig's car! Didn't really come off too easily though...

The course was so gorgeous! 

Map Cupcake Toppers

I recently made these cupcake toppers for my brother's mission call opening (Brady helped out a lot). They turned out super cute! :) I used a large oversized world map, a 1 1/2" craft hole puncher, a glue stick, and a box of toothpicks. The steps and pictures are listed below:

1. First punch circle out of the map. Each cupcake topper needs five circles, so punch out however many you need for your amount of cupcake toppers. (If I have a dozen cupcakes, I'll need 60 circles)

2. Fold each circle in half with the colored part facing in and stack in groups of five. 

3. Grab one of the stacks. Take the first circle and fold it closed so only the back of the map can be seen. Put glue one side only. Grab another circle and fold the same way. Press one side of circle #2 onto the glued side of the first circle. Only the sides with the back of the map should be touching. 

4. Close the circles together so that the blank sides are on the outside. Put glue on one of the blank sides. Grab another circle from your stack and fold in half, with the map facing in. Attach this circle to the glued side. 

5. Repeat this process until you have used all five circles. Your topper should look like this: 

6. Glue the two blank sides of the topper together. Your topper should have no remaining blank sides and only colored map sides on the outside of the topper. Turn the topper upside down and insert a toothpick in the center. Press the sides firmly around the toothpick, in order to hold it in place. 

7. Your cupcake topper is finished! Ready to stick into a cupcake :) 

Happy Birthday to You...

Unfortunately, I didn't sing anything for Brady this year, but I don't think he minded :) I had been planning our date for a few weeks now, but found out I was awful at keeping secrets this year. Brady still had an excellent birthday though, thanks to all our friends and family!

My parents took us out to eat at Tucanos on Thursday, and the food was wonderful! I mean, all you can eat meat?? How can you go wrong?? My dad and I had an evil plot to let the waiter know it was Brady's birthday while he was at the buffet. But...we ended up telling them right when Brady sat down :)

Saturday night, I took Brady out on his birthday date! We ate at Nicolitalia's Pizzeria in P-town, and loved it! Brady loves anything pizza. Afterwards, we went to BYU campus for bowling at the Wilk. I had talked with Brady's friends to come and surprise him at 7:30. We got there at like 7:20, and I didn't want to be too early, so I dragged Brady around the student center looking at advertisements and trying to keep a poker face. Which failed, horribly! I kept laughing, and Brady kept saying I was acting super awkward. Needless to say...he knew something was up :) Bowling was fun though! We both want to bowl more so we're not so terrible at it haha. We'll see how often that happens. 

Brady's parents took us all out to eat at Outback. We love ourselves some Aussie Cheese Fries :) His grandpa has a birthday the same week, so he came with us too this year. Some of Brady's spoils this year included a harmonica, slippers, gift card to Fleet Feet, a t-shirt, and a hard drive! So grateful for this amazing man! No one else makes me smile as much. My life wouldn't be the same without him.