October - My favorite month!!

I love October. The weather, the clothes, the colors, everything! The month started off with a great weekend of General Conference. Some great talks. While the guys were at their Priesthood meeting, my cute cousins, Jenny & Shannon, and I got together for a marathon dinner out at The Cheesecake Factory (yes, that means 3 times in one month's time). We had a great time catching up and just talking for hours (til nearly 2am!).
Jeremy and I were a little late, but we managed to fit in our annual fall drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon and over Guardsman Pass into Park City. Most of the leaves were gone, but it was still nice. At least we had seen it a few weeks earlier, in its prime, when we went up for Brighton Sunday.
My next adventure was a trip to New York City. I hadn't been in 3 years, so it was long overdue. My friend Chara met me there and we took in some shows and shopping for 4 days. She has a friend who has a corporate apartment near NYU, so we got to stay there for free. It was wonderful and kept the trip very inexpensive, thankfully. We saw Linda Eder in concert at the old Town Hall where she was promoting her new album Soundtrack. I'm not really thrilled with her new style, but it was still nice to see her live again. Broadway shows included West Side Story, Mary Poppins (my favorite of the weekend), and Rock of Ages. Great casts, lots of talent.

There were some changes made in my single ward this fall. Our bishopric was released and a new one was called from the Parley's Stake. We attended a Ward Luau in their honor where there was food, bishopric roasts, and a slideshow. The last few minutes of the slideshow included a song "For Good" from Wicked that was very fitting.

It well may be that we will never meet again In this lifetime

So let me say before we part

So much of me is made of what I learned from you

You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart

And now whatever way our stories end

I know you have re-written mine by being my friend...

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

I do believe I have been changed for the better...

And because I knew you...

I have been changed for good...

It was very emotional for me. I'll miss Bishop Craig Proctor, Brother Craig Crockett, and Brother Jim Reynolds. They are good men - and so are the incoming bishopric members. I'm sure we'll grow to love them as well.

And lastly, Halloween. My favorite holiday, in my favorite month. Kristin & Michael came to visit again, and Jeremy and I got to spend the afternoon/evening with them and the wonderful Maxwell family. We even got to do some trick-or-treating with the kids, which I hadn't done in years. Way fun. Carter & Ellie were freakin' adorable as a bee and beekeeper.
Then Jeremy & I went to my house and got changed into our costumes to go to a party at Lyndee's place downtown. Jeremy looked awesome as Quasimodo again this year, and I was a wench.

September Highlights

September is one of my favorite months of the year. The heat finally starts to subside and the cool, crisp fall weather start. Bliss.
September was filled with dinners out with friends. My favorite. I am blessed with lots of very good friends. A few times a year, I get together with a group of girls that I used to work with at Creating Keepsakes Magazine ('03-'04). I always have a great time catching up and seeing their babies come and grow. This is Stephanie and her son, Joshua, who was born with a fuzed skull. His brain was growing out the back last time we saw him in February, and here he is, months after surgery, doing perfectly. What a little trooper.
Jeremy worked overtime one Friday night, so I organized a little GNO with a few friends from my singles ward. We met up at The Cheesecake Factory and had a fun evening, talking for hours. Gotta love girlfriends.
My friend Candy came to town for a friend's wedding, so we got to see her and go out to dinner and a show at the Sandy Amphitheatre. On stage was Shawn Borrowes on the piano and singing. He opened for a comedian named Jason Howland, who was pretty funny. He did lots of impressions and we were pretty amused. Very fun evening. No pictures, unfortunately.
A big highlight of the month was a visit from Michael & Kristin. We spent the afternoon at Hogle Zoo and saw lots of animals. I hadn't been there since I was 12, and it was fun sharing it with little Carter & James.

August Fun

Besides Brittany's trip to Utah for EFY and visiting me, other highlights from August included seeing my nephew, Jordan dance at a Dance Camp he attended at BYU.


I got to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity with my employer, Wells Fargo Health Benefit Services. I was bummed I didn't get to work on a house - rather we weeded a huge area so a playground could be put in. Wow, was that exhausting!

My old friends Jennifer & Bruce Wright were in town from San Francisco, and Jeremy & I got to spend an evening with them and their 5 kids on Temple Square and celebrate Jen's 40th birthday. Those kids are all getting so big & cute!
Jeremy & I met up with our friend "Fun Cory," Shaunna, & Keith to have dinner at Sundance and see a show at the outdoor Sundance Theatre, "The Fantastiks." It was truly the dumbest musical I've ever witnessed, but it was way fun to hang out together in that great venue.Depeche Mode came to town and Jeremy & I couldn't miss it! We love them live! They rocked the house and we had a great time.
I invited my good friend Sheri Hicken and her kids over to swim for the last days of summer. Time sure flies - it's been 18 months since we've seen each other. The kids had a great time swimming and Aryann got to do some school shopping alone w/ her mom while I hung out w/ the boys.
The last day of the month I got to see a local production of The Scarlet Pimpernel with Cory (Jeremy has a policy to see a musical only once). It was a pretty good production, and Cory was such a fun viewing partner! That's why we call him "Fun Cory"!!