FALL-ing in love...

Fall is my my favorite time of year! It seems like all the biggest things that ever happen to me, happen in the fall. Derek and I are a little over a week away from celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary. I am sure this won't be the last blog about this subject, but I wanted to share a picture of me and my darling husband....in the fall, ten years later...I love you honey!

Fall In Utah

Sunday we went for our annual family drive through Alpine Loop to look at the fall leaves. The reds and oranges were in full bloom, but the aspens were still a little green. Never a disappointment to see such beauty!

I realized when we were walking through the yellow trees, all the girls were wearing yellow shirts. Must have been my mood...

The girls had a blast running through the trees and playing in the water.

We always end up at Sundance for a fabulous dinner at the Foundry Grill.

Great food, great wine and great company!

Our friend Rich accompanied the Sims family to celebrate his birthday a week early.

The perfect way to spend a warm, lazy fall afternoon. Happy Birthday Rich!

20th Anniversary Party!

Congratulations to our wonderful friends Randy and Jolie for inviting us all to celebrate with them. And they know how to have a PARTY!!! We had so much fun! Jolie wore here original wedding dress...modernized a little, but still had it's 80's flare. Paula did a great job with the dress and Jolie looked beautiful! Randy looked handsome, as always, sporting his ganster style tux.

Derek and I wore our 80's style wedding attire, but I can't believe I didn't get a picture of us together. I will put it in another post later...I wore my junior prom dress in it's original form. Yes, it still fits...a little big in the top. I guess that is what happens after a couple of babies.

Anyway...back to the party! Derek started off the evenings festivities with a short, unofficial renewal of the vows. Very cleverly written by Jolie's cousin Chelise...Randy promised to try and get some help with his GED (genentic eye defect) and keep his eyes open in pictures from here on out and Jolie promised to let Randy in on the party planning from here on out...many other promises were made, but we'll see....

Then we had an awards ceremony for the best dressed wedding guest in their 80's attire. Forgive me for not knowing everyone's name...there were a lot of people at the party! But, Chelise won hands down for the best bridesmaid ever! Love the side pony and pink bow!!!!

A quick cake cutting ceremony and then we began the DANCING!!!! The cover band 'White Water' played and we danced until our feet were swollen. They brought big hula hoops and everybody took a stab at trying them out. It is amazing the hula hooping skills you can have after a little alcohol. I think it helps!

Derek was a little camera happy towards the end of the party and decided to take pictures of himself with everyone...well, a few people, including the girl outside checking ID's...sorry, again I can't name everyone in the pictures. But, it was fun!

Hey! I caught Randy with his eyes open!

Thanks again for a kick ass party kids! Happy 20 years!

The Cake's Done!

Two days of baking and frosting....and the cake turned out great! Yes, my mother helped me a lot, but I take the credit for baking and making all that frosting. Coming up with those colors was a interesting. I had one batch of yellow that looked like mustard and another that looked like wasabi! Yuck! Not exactly cake decorating colors unless you are making something for Halloween! The cake was fab and so was the anniversary party. That will be my next post...

Baking all day...

Well, the count down for Randy and Jolie's big anniversary party is on...and I am making the cake. I started yesterday morning at 9:30 and finished baking about 10:00 last night. Yes..all day...I baked. Cake #1...

By afternoon I had the bottom and the top...cake #3...and #4, seen in the corner, was having a little problem. This is when the afternoon got interesting. I can't just make a boxed cake...and the darn thing fell in the middle. And it happenend again...and again.

Finally I found a different recipe that worked...3 cakes later. SO, the pro of cake decorating came over and helped me....MOM to the rescue!

All the cakes are baked and tonight we'll put on all the pretty decor.

After a long day of baking, 6 cakes later, all the muscles in body hurt, but I would do it again! I think I have fine tuned my cake baking skills...can't wait to see how it turns out!

Cowgirls...

It is no secret that Grace loves horses and Ryann is following in her sister's footsteps. I found Grace's old cowgirl boots and put them on Ryann this morning. She decided that she couldn't wear the boots without the hat and couldn't wear the outfit unless she was riding her horse...in a dress of coarse....and all pink. We are all girl around here! Poor Derek....but, dang we are cute!

Another intruder?

Nothing creepier than a huge beetle trying to get into your house late at night... I think there is a chance my mouse friend was running away from this guy when he fell in the window well last week! This is a potato bug. I have never seen one here before, but apparently they are native to the Rocky Mountains. I made Derek take a picture and them shew him away from the house. Hopefully he won't be back and hopefully he doesn't have any friends! I love fall, but not sure I can take all the creatures lurking about, looking for a warm place to come in for the winter!

Home improvement

Holly asked me to help her put up a tile backsplash in her kitchen. I was glad to help, so I went over last night to get started.

We got most of the tile set, but Holly is new to home improvement projects and didn't measure correctly so we came up a little short. Although we haven't put the grout in yet, it looks pretty fabulous!

Fashion Police....where are you?

AAAAHHHH!!! Old man in tight bike shorts and big belly hanging out!

I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it for myself. I was driving down 1300 E. and he was standing right on the corner, just watering

the lawn...Most of you know this is not a quiet a street. This guy has no shame! Thank goodness the parts I really don't want to see are covered!

Date night

Derek and I went on a date night Friday, accompanied by a few friends... We came across a great little place called the Olive Bistro the weekend before where we sat on the patio and had a drink. We met the owner that night who promised us a free dessert. We decided to go back and try the food and collect on our free dessert.

The food is great! Dessert is fab too! And we had a great night out with friends!

It is so funny that you can know someone for so long and not realize they have a problem...we discovered our friend Randy can't keep his eyes open for a picture to save his life!!! Seriously we tried...

REALLY....I am so sorry Randy. We are talking about where to get him some therapy. It made for some really good laughs.

Jolie, Lisa ad Dalton....so cute!

Us girls who have to put up with these silly guys!

After the Olive Bistro we went to the Keys on Main piano bar.

We had a few drinks and some more really good laughs. Dalton didn't want to go to the piano bar, but I think ended up having the most fun singing. She seriously new EVERY word to EVERY song!

You go girl!

Thanks again to everyone for a wonderful date night. Let's do it again soon!

Mouse update

So, I checked on the little creep a couple of times to see if he had died yet. NOPE! He escaped!

The sneaky little thing got out of the window well! Don't know where he went, but it sparked a cleaning frenzy! I cleaned out all the cupboards in the kitchen and checked for mice poop. No sign of mice thank goodness. But he is out there somewhere...

My message for him and all his little creepy friends...stay in the field where you belong or we
will get you! Cleaning out the garage this weekend and setting some traps. No mouse will get into this house (or any other unwanted little creepy critter...spiders that goes for you too!)

A intruder...no....

I was sitting at the computer last night checking my email, the kids were asleep and I was enjoying some alone time. All of a sudden I hear something....it sounded like someone trying to break in to through the window in our guest room. I slowly peak into the dark room...I had no weapon....but was ready to fight off my intruder.

It was a mouse! In the window-well!!! Scratching and biting franticly at the window to get in!!! Not in my house mister! I kept checking on him. I guess he wore himself out because he eventually made himself a little bed of leaves and went to sleep. He is back at it again this morning...scratching, chewing, trying to get in...but he will die there! Serves him right. Should have stayed out in the field where he belongs!

Weekend wrap...

We were supposed to go Colorado for the weekend, but up agianst many roadblocks ended up staying home. We cultured ourselves locally by going to the Greek Festival Downtown on

Saturday night and Ocktoberfest on Sunday up at Snowbird.

Derek and I ate ourselves silly on Saturday because we ate dinner before we went to the Greek Festival. But who can pass up a big hepling of baklava! And we hung out with our very cool friends Randy and Jolie!

Our fun at Ocktoberfest was cut short due to the RAIN! So we ate, had a couple of yummy beers and listened to the music. We will go back hopefully next weekend for a little hike, more beer and some facepainting for the kids. We took a couple of cute pictures while we ate, but the rain really spoiled it for us.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Anniversary Cake

Well, I am making a cake for my dear friends Randy and Jolie's anniversary party. I thought I better make a practice cake to be sure I had the skills to do such a thing. I have never used foundant frosting before and needed to be sure it was going to work. So things we going along just fine yesterday...I baked the cake.

I frosted it...

And after I had put the cake together with the foundant it looked really nice...until Ryann discovered the cake on the counter last night. No one was looking so I guess she thought it would be ok to sample it!

Thank goodness this was not the real thing! I am still fine tuning my decorating ideas and plan on decorating this cake, but I have some repairs to to do. DON'T YOU JUST LOVE 2-YEAR-OLDS!

U.S. Open and Football

Ok. A little strange I know, but I have a sports blog today. We all know I am such a sports fan (not). Derek went to the U.S. Open on Wednesday and was able to see Roger Federer play. If any of you watch tennis, you know he is the big guy on court. A big highlight for my hubby!!!

I also wanted to tell you about a rising star in our family. Well, we have many, but I have to highlight my cuz Kyle Mutcher. It is his senior year at Weber State University. He is the starting center for the Wildcats this year and the NFL has their eyes on him. He is injured this week and taking a few weeks to recover, but I am still rooting for him. This weekend Weber State is up against Derek's team, Colorado State University. Watch for Kyle. I know he is going big! GO KYLE! (oh yeah, and go CSU).

Labor day at Rockport

I didn't want you to think I already forgot about the blog, but you know how it is...busy, kids, life! Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I am still trying to figure out all this computer stuff so my weekend post isn't finished yet. I am also waiting for some pictures from my fellow campers. Here is a little preview of our weekend fun. Can I just say...camping with kids is not very relaxing!