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Why do I feel anxiety when I think about updating this thing? This is not how it was supposed to be! I was supposed to just regurgitate thoughts and the occasional picture when I felt like it. Now it's become a sort of travelogue, which is fine, but it makes me feel an immense sense of inadequacy if I don't consistently have something to say. Which is pretty silly. So here are some things I've been thinking about that need to be said/typed/posted, without regard to chronological order or... any kind of order.

- I can't stop watching these "I'm A Mormon" videos. Especially Brian Kershisnik's video. I remember the first time I saw his paintings was with Harry our favorite restaurant in Provo (Pizzeria 712). They had a few of his paintings on the walls and we used to talk about owning one someday. And by talk I mean dream.



- I'm guilty of watching this season of "Bachelor Pad." I'm currently halfway through this past week's episode. I don't know if I can get through it. And as much as I'd like to think it's because I'm such a righteous person… it's really because I feel like there are germs crawling all over me after every episode. Everyone in that mansion is perpetually wet and in a swim suit. And then they're either crying or throwing paint at each other or making out and… I feel like I need a piping hot shower just thinking about it. Put some dry clothes on, people, and read a good book and just calm the heck down for a minute.

- My sister E was randomly in town! And by "in town" I mean "in Vegas," which is where we were up until yesterday. She brought little baby I in town for a quick little doctor's visit, even though she and her cute fam moved to Utah a few months ago. As luck would have it, we realized our paths would cross in Vegas and she stayed here with us and I got to spend hours and hours catching up with her and laughing. It was really hard for me when she moved out of Vegas-- not getting to see her whenever we're in town is pretty sad. So we made the most of our time together and it's heavenly.



- I love when Harry gets really into a good book. He usually starts fiddling with his hair while he reads, twirling it, patting it, all while he can't look away and is deaf to everything else in the room. Someday his ability to tune everything out may bug me, but for now, I really love it, and wish I wasn't so easily distracted while I read.



- I'm itching to sew again. I happened upon a little sewing blog that I really like! There are a few projects I'm really interested in, the main one being this one:



Since my most glorious cousin Rebecca is getting herself hitched next month, there's no better time to create a good skirt to wear in the exact color and trim that I want!

- I'm getting homesick for Palo Alto. This is bad. Very bad. Because it will only be home for one more year. I know it's a dumb thing to grieve way in advance, but I can't help it. My heart already hurts.

- Fall is coming. Cameron is going back to school. Pencils and spiral notebooks are on sale. I know when we get back to Palo Alto the marching band will be practicing near our house (this is a major blessing/curse) and I'll start concocting a plan for the best Halloween costumes possible. Especially one that can stand up to the glorious ones of the past:

2007: Christmas Elf and Eminem



2008: Road Kill and Camoflauge Man



2010: Reynolds Wrap




Suggestions are most welcome.

- Series 2 Premiere is September 18 (according to Wikipedia). Set your DVRs, ladies. It's going to be epic.

Halloween

I don't believe in apologizing for not keeping up on this blog. It's my little free write sounding board, my little claimed space in the internet void. Even if millions read it, it would still be my sounding board. And a way for our fams to see what it is that we really do up here in the crazy, Mark-Zuckerberg-Steve-Jobs-Arnold-Schwarzenegger-inhabited slice of California when they don't feel like chatting on the phone. So internet void, I'm not exactly remorseful about my absence, but I am raring to engage in a brain dump, and for that, I say, you're welcome.

October was stuffed like an empanada with things! We're lucky to have friends here that we really love. And who invite us to do Halloweensy-ish things! We've been turning these



into these



(Ours is Jack Skellington. Also pictured are the haunted house and the all important SF Giants pumpkin!)



(our two pumpkins side by side. Jack Skellington with a jack-o-lantern sipping a cold lemonade on a beach somewhere in the South Pacific)

with the help of these



and these

(picture of adorable fun ward family who not only fed us a remarkably delicious meal, but carved pumpkins with us. My heart melted when child T climbed up next to me, glanced inside the pumpkin I was gutting, and gave me a thumbs up and said, "Yo going a gweat job!")

We also turned these



into these (the Apple Pie Apple a la Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. My tastebuds swooned and I got cavities just by looking at it)



and watched



with the some fun friends!

(again, not yet pictured. Caramel appley hands make for non-existent camera work)

Last night we attended a Halloween party. We spent hours coming up with things to be. Simon and Garfunkel? No. Bella and Edward? No. Bird and a Bee? Negatory. Then a few nights ago, it occurred to us. It was so simple, it was as if the inspiration muse had knocked on our door and held a poster board up to us with the idea scrawled on it in black sharpie while a boombox blared holiday music (like that dude in "Love, Actually").

Feast your eyes, kids: Reynolds Wrap.




Harry had some aluminum foil accents. I went for the full out body wrap. And boy was I sweaty by the evening's end. Too much information? Too late, friends.

We managed to make a pot full of white chicken chili and submit it just in time to be judged in a contest, thus the mess behind me. My word may not mean much, but I promise, our apartment does have a livable state of cleanliness all of the time except for tonight. Yikes. Not my proudest background for a picture, but this was when I was on the verge of unwrapping myself due to complete unbreathableness of a plastic wrap dress. Oh, and the chili didn't win, but the pot was completely clean at the end of the night, and I'm satisfied.

I feel fully Halloweened out. In the best sense.