Utah Jazz vs Denver Nuggets

My little brother Chris is getting married in a couple of weeks and for a last hurrah, we hit the road for Denver to catch the first Jazz game of the season. Our entourage consisted of Me, Chris, his buddies Isaiah, Jubal, and Jason, and our Dad!

Chris and his best friend Isaiah

Me and my Daddy

David Locke from 1320 KFAN saw us, the few Jazz fans amid all of the Nuggets fans, and came up to our seats to talk to us!

The Tip-Off

The Jazz were killed by the Nuggets, but it was still super fun to be there for the first game of the season... hopefully the Jazz can pull together and have a decent season!

Halloween - Part One

We went to an adoption mini-class last week and we were in charge of bringing the treats. I had fun making these pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes and they turned out super yummy!
The first Halloween party of the season was held at our neighbor's house, the Walter's. In case you can't tell from the picture, we went as salt and pepper shakers. You should have seen the looks we got as we were trying out the different colanders on our heads at Wal-mart!
We divided into boys vs. girls for a heated game of Pictionary! The party was a blast and we feel lucky to have such awesome neighbors!
The second party of the season was held at our church and boy did I get a ton of comments. All of the kids kept asking me if that was my real hair!

Halloween week isn't over yet, so we'll add more pics of the festivities soon!

♪ I Can Hear The Bells ♪

Last Saturday, James' Dad got re-married! We're excited for the happy couple and we can't wait to get to know Sherry and welcome her into our family.

These are the centerpieces that Sherry asked me to make for her "autumn" themed wedding luncheon.
This is our cute nephew Curtis posing for the camera at his Grandpy's wedding... he looks darling in this pic so I just had to include it with this blog post!

Love Is Sweet

Any excuse to throw a party and I get so excited! I love party planning and I think that I must have been a party planner in another life! My little brother Chris is getting married on November 11th and I wanted to throw a bridal shower for my cute soon-to-be sis, Karen. For party favors, the guests filled their own treat bags.

The sign next to the treat jars said:

LOVE is SWEET please take a TREAT!

My mom helped me to throw this shower and we had a blast color coordinating all of the yummy food! We made yummy sparkling lemonade and even decorated the water bottles! I decorated our dining room chandelier to match our theme and designed the food table around it. We loved our cupcake centerpiece!
As guests were either coming or going, we asked them to take a minute and write Karen a little note - just another fun way to personalize the shower!
This is cute Karen! I'm so excited for her to join our family and I hope she had fun at her shower!

It's pumpkin time

It's not Halloween until the pumpkins are cleaned out, carved, and set a-flame! Every year we have a pumpkin night with our fun friends Isaiah and Rosie. They recently adopted cute Addison so she got to join in on the fun this year. She loved playing with the yucky pumpkin seeds! We can't wait until we have a little one to join in on the fun too!

Cleaning out the ooey-gooey insides of our pumpkins

James' Pumpkin: The Bat

Heather's Pumpkin: Dracula

The Carving Crew

A little night vision

♪ Five Little Pumpkins ♪

Adoption Update

We decided that we wanted to dive right in and get involved in anything and everything concerning adoption. We were introduced to a group called Families Supporting Adoption through our caseworker Shannon and we decided to make the leap and get involved! We're just crazy like that!!! We emailed the Board Chair and she invited us to a board meeting last month and after one meeting (you read that right - 1 meeting) we volunteered to join the Board! We are now the official Activities Chair for the West Valley Chapter of FSA!

Now you may be wondering what FSA is so I copied this from their blog to explain exactly who they are and what they do:

“Families Supporting Adoption (FSA), an organization sponsored by LDS Family Services, seeks to promote a positive view of adoption. The organization has more than 5,000 members—including adoptive couples, birth parents, adults who were adopted, and adoption professionals—in chapters throughout the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand. FSA meets with birth parents and families, church groups, and community groups to share information and dispel myths about adoption. FSA is a local resource for adoption-related information in our communities—including television and radio adoption advocacy public service announcements—and actively enables and encourages the media to present accurate information about adoption. FSA provides education and support to families involved in the adoption process.”

As the new Activities Chair, James and I will be in charge of refreshments at all of the adoption mini classes held every other month; planning a summer activity for all of our members to meet and socialize to help to further advocate adoption throughout the community; and a Birth Mother dinner held in the Spring to recognize the incredible Birth Mothers in our local chapter. We're especially excited for the Birth Mother's dinner because they are truly amazing and this dinner will serve as just one little way that we can express our gratitude for them and let them know how special they are! We are thrilled to be a part of FSA and supporting such an awesome cause and we really look forward to meeting everybody and hearing about all of the amazing positive adoption stories out there!

Happy Haunting

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Something wicked this way comes!

I'd turn back if I were you!

The residents of this haunted hollow!

"Welcome," said the spider, "Come right in.

I'm so glad to have you, I feel mighty thin."
"Rest your weary bones, put down your pack;
The time has now come to have a snack!"

Jackson or Bust!

A few weekends ago, I (Heather) hit the road on the back of my dad's motorcycle! There's nothing quite like travelling down the highway at high speeds with the wind flying everywhere and the stereo blazing. It's so much fun! My dad always asks me to burn a CD for each trip so we always have new tunes for the ride. Our entourage consisted of 3 motorcycles: Dad's, with me riding as passenger; my brother Chris, with his fiance Karen as his passenger; and Jubal, Chris' friend. The five of us had a blast hanging around Jackson Hole and touring through Yellowstone National Park. It was a super fun trip and I can't wait until next time!

Dad's Harley - the Ultra Classic (above)

From the passenger's point of view, this is the most comfortable bike ever! I've actually fallen asleep a few times while out on the open road!

Chris' Harley - the Heritage Softail (above)

This is the best looking motorcycle that Harley makes, if you ask me!!!

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park


The Town Square - Jackson Hole, Wyoming