December

The first weekend in December did not go to waste. Friday night we had Alanna and Joe over to a casual night of playing games and eating snacks. Afterwards we put in Elf, and everyone but Joe fell asleep.

Saturday morning Jesse and I were up bright and early. We volunteered (as we do every year) to help out at Festival of Trees. We ran into Kevin Jones and his wife on our way in. This year we helped out at the Sweet Shoppe in hopes to cut fudge again. Instead they put us on cotton candy duty. I had to wear a hair net, yuck - (no pictures). I've never made cotton candy before so that was a learning experience. After 2 hours on the cotton candy machine and covered in sugar crystals we asked to be 'transferred' and they put us in the back skewering marshmallows, grapes and cinnamon bears to be dipped into chocolate. We took a quick stroll when our shift was up and I got a cinnamon sugar scone. We headed home just as it began to snow. Jesse attempted to put up some icicle lights on our balcony but couldn't get the whole string to light up. Later that evening I dragged Jesse off to Color Me Mine to work on a Christmas present for one of my siblings. We both did one piece and cant wait to see the finished project!

Sunday, I went to church early for my meeting and it turned out we didn't have a meeting. So I just visited until church started. During Sunday School I ended up talking to the YW president in the hallway so Jesse went by himself. The last hour, we didn't have any young women so we got to go to Relief Society. What a good lesson about the Saviors birth, so glad I got to go! After church Jesse and I went and picked up Crissa and Elvera. I wrapped some Christmas presents and Jesse made delicious pulled pork burritos for dinner that were just as good as Cafe Rios - although a lot more spicy! We hurried and cleaned up lunch and raced off to Salt Lake for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional at the Conference Center. After the devotional we went and looked at the lights on temple square, peeked inside the Tabernacle, and saw the Christ statue in the visitors center. It was Elvera's first time to Temple Square and Crissa's first time seeing the lights. We made it back to the car without freezing and drove the girls home.
This morning we woke up to about 2" of snow on the ground and more expected to fall all day. In fact, it is supposed to snow all week, as long as it sticks around we should have a beautiful White Christmas. :)

Thanksgiving

The week of Thanksgiving was a lot of fun at our house. My cousin got married on the 24th so we went to his reception at the North Hampton house. I got his fiance her dress and it looked just gorgeous on her. We got to see lots of family of course too - including a cousin from his other side that wouldn't leave Crissa alone. Hahaha, yikes!

Wednesday we had quite a few visitors. Not only did we have Crissa and Elvera staying at our house almost every night but Jesse's cousin Andrew and his girlfriend Wendi came up for Thanksgiving from California. My visiting teachers also dropped off a plate of yummy cookies. Wednesday night I spent baking pies, first 2 pumpkin, then 3 cheesecakes and a lemon meringue.

The next morning we slept in and took it easy (except Jesse who had to work). I made breakfast burritos for everyone and made 3 more pies, 2 apple and one peach. at about 1:30pm I took Crissa and Elvera over to Oliphants for Thanksgiving dinner and got to see everyone for a few minutes before rushing home to take out my apple pies. Grandma and Grandpa Oliphant were celebrating their 57th anniversary and had 7 of their 10 kids represented at Thanksgiving this year. Jesse got home shortly after I did and we went over to his grandparents house for Thanksgiving with Justin, Talia, Turner, Andrew & Wendi. We stayed pretty late playing games and then went to pick up Crissa and Elvera and play more games at our house. My cousins Russell, Markee and Marissa came over too. We played Cranium and had a blast!

Friday we decided to go shoppping but not at the crack of dawn as we had in the past - partially because we went to bed so late. We we took our time and left at 9:30am. I dropped Crissa, Elvera and Wendi off at the mall and headed to work to sign for a box. Waited three hours for the box and then met the girls at Olive Garden for Soup, Salad and Breadsticks. We got back just in time to meet Jesse and Andrew at their grandparents for leftovers. Grandma put the boys to work moving furniture after dinner and we played another game before deciding to go bowling.

I won both games for our team (Jesse, Crissa, Elvera) and Justin and then Andrew won on the other team and had the overall best scores for our group. Turner even got to bowl!

Saturday I set up the Christmas tree and put up other christmas decorations. Baxter has behaved himself for the most part in not destroying the tree although has managed to knock off some of the lower hanging ornaments and loves to chew on the lowest tree branches - good thing its fake and I am glad he is not trying to climb it.

Later that day we watched the BYU v. Utah game at Justins house. Justin invited a bunch of their old friends from High School to watch the game too. Most of them were cheering for Utah, including Jesse. So I had to cheer extra loud when BYU did good or when they ultimately won in overtime. It was a good game, despite the loss for Utah. We stayed and played games after everyone else left and watched a movie on tv till about 2am. Andrew and Wendi left early the next morning before we got up for church to drive back to California.

Half Empty

Well I feel like November is practically over and Christmas will be here just around the corner. Normally this is a happy thought except I havent gotten any presents done yet and plane tickets to go home for Wisconsin are expensive. So we're still not sure if we are going to be able to make it to visit my family - most of which I havent seen since this time last year.

One thing I hate more than anything is being in limbo and we have alot of limbo going on at our house right now with so many changes but uncertainty what those changes will be exactly. Sure makes it hard to plan for the future which I am thinking about alot now. Good thing my husband is calm and reassuring and even recently said he would consider driving to Wisconsin if its what I really wanted.

This past week we have kept pretty busy.


Last Thursday we drove down to Provo and delivered a wedding dress to my cousins fiance. We stopped by Crissa's place to say hello and found Elvera (who doesnt live there) in Crissa's apartment watching Greys Anatomy by herself.


Friday Jesse and I went to an early movie, Couples Retreat, we needed an offical date night and the movie was funny. We came home and had dinner and watched the snow start falling.

Saturday morning I had a 3 hour presidency meeting at our house while it snowed outside. Baxter even went out to catch some flurries until he was wet and cold. Later that night we went over to the Alkema's and had a blast catching up and playing games late in the evening.


Sunday we had Crissa and Elvera over and made more BBQ chicken pizza - I have been eating leftovers all week. We had some fun gospel discussions and somehow Crissa convinced me to call home at 10:45pm to ask my dad for some answers.


Monday we went to Justin & Talia's for dinner as usual and had super yummy tacos and mexican rice. We finally got to see UP and played 10 Days in the USA.

Tuesday I was planning on going to the RS Thanksgiving Dinner Enrichment night but my grandma called and offered us BYU Basketball tickets for that night, so we went to that instead.

Later that night while in bed we had this huge flash light up our room. Usually such things are from car headlights or something but thats NOT commons since we're on the 3rd floor. But I didnt hear a loud bang or anything, so I didnt think much of it and went back to sleep. Turns out it was some meteor falling from the sky - a rare once in a lifetime experience - I only saw the flash. (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8714738)

Last night, Jesse dragged me to the gym after we finished off all the leftover 7 layer dip from Monday night.

Restaurant Favorites

Just thought I would share some of my favorite places/things to eat:

(Restaurant - menu item)
PF Changs - Lettuce Wraps and Chang's Spicy Chicken
Noodles & Company - Mushroom Stroganoff
JCWs - Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich or Chicken Fingers in honey mustard
Cafe Rio - Pork Salad or Pork Burrito
Bombay House - Bollywood Chicken, Garlic Nann
Betos/Rancheritos - Chicken Chimichanga
Macaroni Grill - Pasta Milano
Olive Garden - Garlic Herb-Chicken con Broccoli, tons of breadsticks
Texas Roadhouse - Half slab ribs, loaded baked potato, fresh vegetables
Grand Lux (Las Vegas) - Crispy Carmel Chicken
Cheesecake Factory - Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake
In-N-Out - Double Double, vanilla shake
TGI Friday's - Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
Chili's - Awesome Blossom, White Chili (discontinued)

November

This past week has actually been decent weather, too bad my office isnt outside. Instead I sit inside above a poorly insulated cooler and freeze all day.

Tuesday we had an activity for YW on Herbs and we made herb butter. I got to bring home some leftover fresh herbs too including parsley, chive and basil. So yummy.

Wednsday Jesse and I went to the temple and waited 90 minutes to get into a session. Luckily we were wise enough to eat before going as we didnt get home til about 9:30pm.

Thursday we went and picked out a new ottoman at Bed Bath & Beyond they had in a recent ad. We got a new coffee table when we got our new couches but it just wasnt the same to put your feet up on. We like this new one alot. Its got a reversable top that becomes a tray for food and comes with 4 small stools/ottomans (extra seating) that fit inside.

Friday we had some friends over - Alanna and Joe. Jesse made a fabulous dinner including salad, stuffed pork chops, cheesy cauliflower and roasted red potatoes. Alanna brought some of her dad's new games over and taught us how to play 5 new games (www.otb-games.com). They were alot of fun, I especially liked LetterRoll. We had brownies and ice cream before calling it a night.

Saturday I had a stake YW meeting and was totally late. I had set my alarm the night before and forgot to turn it on. So I layed in bed on Saturday morning waiting for my alarm to go off and thinking to myself how wonderful daylight savings time was. I was sure I had another hour to sleep as I had woken up an hour early all week until Jesse got up and I glanced at my clock and saw it was 10:20. My meeting started at 10am. I hurried and got ready and snuck in for the last hour and a half. I stayed after to help cleanup afterwards. Later that afternoon we had Talia take our photos for our Christmas card. We also desperately need photos for the walls in our home. We took pictures at the Provo Library and got some great shots, cant wait to see the photos! We took her out to Bombay House afterwards and had fabulous Indian food as usual. We returned home to do some grocery shopping and prepare for sunday.

Sunday I had meetings before church so I drove and Jesse walked and met me at church when it began. It sure is nice that we are in the building across the street now instead of across the Blvd. It was the primary program in sacrament meeting and we got a good couple of laughs from two boys in the back row who were basically shouting instead of singing. After church we went over to Kyle & Roni's for dinner. Jesse made chicken enchiladas to go along with the salad, mexican rice, chile renos and guacamole brought by others. We mostly just visited as we havent had dinner together since June.

More Jack-o-lanterns

We had fun doing more pumpkin carving on Friday at Justin & Talia's. Talia made us some delicious soup in pumpkin-looking bread bowls that were so cute! I was so full I forgot to grab a sugar cookie later in the evening.


My pumpkin - silly face.

Talia & Justin carving away.

Jesse fixing something on his pumpkin

Jesse tried his hand at sculpting another pumpkin.

Pumpkins all in a line: Jesse, Kassie, Turner, Justin, Talia.

Saturday, I got to go wedding dress shopping with my cousin Patrice for a wedding dress. She is getting married in January. After about 3 hours we found the perfect one! I returned home to find Jesse cleaning the house. He watched some football, I did crafts and gave candy to a few kids who dared climb the 3 flights of stairs. Then we debated eating out somewhere and decided just to make our own. We ran Macey's and got stuff for buffalo wings, guacamole and chips, and some tator tots. We devoured it while watching football and whatever movie we could find on television - nothing scary. I think it was a chic flick. Yes, we love halloween that much. Come to think of it I dont think we even lit our pumpkins that night.

Sunday we enjoyed sleeping in and actually waking up to daylight outside. It was a gorgeous day so we walked to church across the street. We had the afternoon all to ourselves this week and enjoyed lounging and napping and not doing much of anything. I made lasagna and rolls that were so yummy - I am looking forward to leftovers all week. :)

Pumpkin Carving

Yesterday was the Oliphant's monthly get together. After having some spaghetti we all carved our pumpkins. Its a good thing Grandma has these activities or we probably wouldn't have carved any. We both agree Halloween is our least favorite holiday.

Jesse couldnt just carve a pumpkin like everyone else, he had to sculpt one.

I made a Baxter pumpkin

Brides

So this past week we have been commuting to and from West Jordan as we slept at Turner's house. We watch him from about 3pm until 8am and his other aunt watches him during the day while we are at work. He is a fun boy to watch, so full of energy and almost always happy. Jesse learned a thing or two about kids, and will make such a great dad some day.

Saturday we debuted our catering company at the Provo Bridal Fair under the Emporium. The booth only took 8 hours to set up on Friday, followed by food preparation for about 1,000 and then another 8 hours of standing during the show. Jesse prepared prosciutto wrapped melons, broccoli salad, and cheesecake brownies for the attendees to sample. We recruited Crissa, Elvera, and Nicole to come help us. Crissa and Nicole even got to model wedding dresses during our fashion show. Another roommate, Danielle, came later to help too. Thanks for all your help guys!

We went out for ice cream after taking down the entire booth and called it a night at about 9pm. Sunday I woke up with a cold and so only went to my early morning meetings and Sacrament meeting before coming home to crash for a few hours. We had Crissa, Nicole & Elvera over for chicken enchiladas for dinner, watched some movie named Paulie on TV that has Monk in it while trying to play Settlers. It was the longest game ever, and I finally won. We had some more snacks and then took the girls home.

Fire!

Jesse stayed home from work on Friday and got some medication from the doctor for his symptoms. He felt much better Saturday morning. I went into work for an early meeting with some of the new vendors in the Emporium building. We got to sample cupcakes for breakfast and even took a flower home. I got to go home in the afternoon and we watched football until I couldnt stand it anymore. So, I started an oven in the fire to spark things up. Not intentionally of course, I just switched it to auto clean and some of the drippings caught fire. We put it out and restarted the auto clean without any more problems. I left Jesse home to keep an eye on the oven in case it flamed up again and went shopping at Walmart for groceries and a few misc stuff we needed to get the house organized and decorated. I am tired of having bare walls.

Sunday we got up bright and early to head over to Justin & Talia's to get prepped on caring for Turner. They are going on a cruise for the week and we are watching Turner. Jesse drove them to the airport while I stayed hom with Turner who was still sleeping. Turner woke up while he was gone so I fed him breakfast and got him ready for church. We drove back to our place so we could get ready and walked to our new church building across the street. We only stayed for Sacrament Meeting although he did pretty well. We had brought some snacks and a few quiet toys for him to play with. Afterwards we went home and had lunch and then went to pick up Crissa and Elvera for dinner. He fell asleep in the car on the way there but woke up when the girls climbed into the car. So when we got home Jesse layed him down for a nap while us girls watched a chick flick. When they got up Jesse made us his famous chili although he put jalepenos in it - it was so HOT! We fed Turner something else. After dinner Jesse took Turner home and got him ready for bed while I took the girls home. Turner was in bed when I got there so we finished watching a few football games together until bedtime.

Corrupting Crissa

Saturday I had to work but still got to listen to General Conference. Sunday we sat around and watched conference too. Its tradition that I cross stitch during Conference and got further on the Nativity I have been working on for a few years. I forgot to get Orange Rolls, another tradition, so we just had french toast and eggs.

Monday we decided to stay home since we had visited Justin & Talia three times last week and I am sure they are sick of us. It was nice to relax at home.

Tuesday I taught cake decorating for our young womens activity which was quite fun and also a learning experience for me. First, there is a reason they dont recommend you use ziplock bags for piping bags. Second, you need more than an hour and a half usually to learn substantial cake decorating skills. Third, plan ahead better with an agenda of what you want to cover. We decorated cupcakes.

Wednesday we didnt have much of anything on the agenda so I made Jesse come with me to Urgent Care to I figure out why I keep getting sharp stabbing headaches (and on just the right side of my head). Turns out I have some complicated ear/sinus infection. So he perscribed me some hard core antibiotics, SUPER strengh Mucinex, nasal spray and ibuprofen for the headaches. Should be all gone in 10 days, although I feel much better already.

(notice how she is holding the Claire bear)

Thursday after work I took Crissa shopping. We also stopped and finally got her ears pierced. She had agreed earlier and then as we pulled up to the mall tried to back out with all sorts of lame excuses. Crissa - "We're doing this now?, What?, Not today, No I'm not ready, I need to psych myself up for it, What if I am allergic?, Will I die?, Are we really doing this?, Now?, Seriously?, How about we do it some other time?, What?, Ok they're not even, My ears are deformed, Maybe they're not meant to be pierced, Is it going to hurt?, I dont want to die, Can I hold your hand?" She didnt even blink when she got them pierced. I said "See, I told you wouldn't even say owch." "Owch." She picked out a few classic pairs every girl must have and we continued with our shopping elsewhere.

(thrilled it didnt hurt as bad as she drummed it up to be)

We ended up spending the most at ROSS. Big surprise I know. I got 3 pairs of shoes (2 boots), a new winter coat that is so soft I could sleep in it, a new purse, a mirror, and a bunch of glassware for catering events. The only problem with shopping with your sister is when you both see something you both like and have to fight over who gets it. We bought matching pairs of boots (cause we cant share even though we're a size 7 and 7.5) and I won the purse. My plan was to be home by 8:30-9:00pm because my visiting teachers were coming, but of course I just missed them and had to reschedule. Sorry guys!