Book Club or Bunko?

I faced a dilemma Thursday night- go to book club or fill in as a "sub" for a Bunko night..... I ended up going to Bunko and having a blast, but was still so sad to miss talking about the latest book I read.

I know it looks boring, but it wasn't formatted like a non-fiction book. It told a story and taught principles as you read. I learned that we should all have hearts that are at peace, not at war. When you have a heart at war, you justify yourself in decisions and thoughts that aren't in harmony with initial desires you might have to do good. It also emphasized that you can't blame your bad mood, prejudices, or ill feelings on bad things that have happened to you. We all have the choice be happy, whether we are in tough situations or not. In other words, we can't blame the guy who cut us off on the road for our anger. That was a choice we made. Anyway, I could go on and on, but it was a good book and really got me thinking about some things! Thanks, Rachel, for picking it!

On the other hand.... I have to comment about last month's book, The Secret Life of Bees. I had heard really good things about it and was so excited to read it and seriously did NOT like it at all!! I was surprised that I was pretty much the only one who felt this way in the group. I thought it was slightly depressing and just kind of weird. It's told from the perspective of a 14 year old girl and her thoughts were nothing like I remember from being 14. Actually, I don't know if I think as deeply as she did, even at 25! I didn't sympathize with her character and really struggled just to finish it. Some argue that the time era was informative (civil rights time), but I've read so many other books that made me feel more passionately about those issues, than this. I know the movie is out right now, but I don't have much interest in seeing how it compared. Has anyone else read this book and felt similarly???

OK, back to Bunko! Crescent hosted and we had yummy soup and rolls to start, then got going on the game. It's played with 12 people and you roll three dice, trying to get certain numbers and win the round. You play36 rounds and it took over an hour I think. It was SO fun! I guess I'm not good at focusing though, because I couldn't hold a conversation and roll at the same time. I'm told it gets easier with practice :) Unfortunately, I didn't do so well and got a "loser" prize. Travis laughed really hard when I brought it home because the tag actually says "loser" on it, in cute scrapbooking paper. Haha.

I don't know about you, but I thought it was pretty darn cute! I definitely caught Bunko fever and would love to play again. I think the Buffalo girls should get a group going... hint, hint :) I ate a ton of chocolate, but probably laughed most of it off by the end of the night. Thanks, Crescent for a great evening!


This morning brought a winter wonderland to our yard and Trav got to experience his first time shoveling snow! He was just about done when I popped outside with my camera, to which he responded, "I was wondering when you were going to come out!" He just knows me too well!

Part of the reason he shoveled, was that we had Melissa Nielsen's baby shower at my house today. Here is all the yummy pink treats....

Here are some of the cute girls that came to celebrate.

Melissa with her beautiful baby, Adelaide, and some fun presents. Melissa didn't know what she was having until the baby was born (amazing patience!) so that's why we waited until now to have the shower.

Drum roll please........ haha, and here is the 7 month picture! Yep, that's all I have to say.

Tonight, was the ward Christmas party.
First, I took a picture of what 7 months looks like!

We had ham and potatoes for dinner, then sang some songs and had a program. They did the 12 days of Christmas, where each group was a different day and we were the 2 turtle doves. We powerhoused our part with Napolean Dynamite actions and ended up winning the prize for.... well I'm not really sure what for. I guess we were just the best singers! Well, I'll let you be the judge :)

No laughing!! I know I have a great voice and you're all so jealous!

Our prize was a basket of chocolates! No complaining there! :)

Let the Festivities Begin!

Well, the good times started last Wednesday, when the Phillips invited us over for treats and games. Of course we started with Mafia. I thought it was funny when, as we started playing, one of the kids exhasperately yelled out, "Are you guys playing the "close your eyes" game again?!" Haha. Then it was decided that we should play Murder in the Dark. This is played with the lights out, holding hands, sitting in a circle. Well, I just thought that a bunch of "grown ups" doing this was too funny and tried to snap a pic. I couldn't fit everyone in it, but you get the idea. Us Mormons have no shame. :) On the contrary, we had a blast!

Turkey Day started with some much needed sleeping in! Then Travis ran off to play football with the Elder's Quorum for a few hours. Amazingly, it wasn't snowing and the field was just muddy in the middle. He said it was a lot of fun (and thankfully my first question asked when he got home, "did anyone get hurt?" was answered in the negative). They just didn't count on horrible soreness for the next three days as "hurt" :) I spent those hours watching the Macy's Day Parade and baking!

Ta Da! My favorite: candied yams, apple pie, and green bean casserole. The casserole is something I didn't grow up eating, but it is a staple at the Evans' house, so I obliged Travis. :) Sad that at 25, this was my first Thanksgiving to actually make part of the meal!

The Marchent's invited us to their place for dinner. We shared a yummy meal with them, the Shaheens, the Fox's, and a few guys from dental school.

The Spread:

Stuffing our faces.

Cheese!

Later that night we met at our house for dessert and games. We taught everyone how to play "Three on a Couch". Very fun and I think we got Bron hooked!

Black Friday was spent at the mall (I know, can you believe we did that!?) and other various stores. Nothing too exciting was purchased. I did get a little worried though, when this obnoxious guy in an Escalade tried to pick a fight with Trav in the parking lot. People are just *@# holes on Black Friday! Excuse my French. That night the Cardons invited us over for "Nog Fest" and a gingerbread house contest. Creed makes a mean nog.

The Shaw's Choo Choo Train!

Bron and Megan

Creed and Tiff

Not only does Creed make nog, he makes some AmAzInG Hot Chocolate- complete with candy cane, whipped cream, marshmellows, and chocolate syrup! Delish!

Saturday was spent cleaning the house and putting up Christmas decorations! Yeah! Then I finally went to see Twilight with Megan and Rachel. Definitely a cheesy love story, but good all the same. I got a twinge of homesickness when the movie showed a skyline view of Phoenix at the beginning. Sniff, sniff. Never thought I'd miss a Saguaro. :)

BYU vs. Utah

What a busy weekend! After staying up until 1 am Friday night playing games with friends (who do we think we are- college students?!) we spent most of Saturday driving to Palmyra to go to the temple. But we had to make sure and get back in time for the big game! The Daytons were kind enough to host all the madness. I didn't realize the gloves came on when BYU played Utah....

Even though I went to BYU (and I love the school), I'm not a hard core fan. I know, blasphemous! I usually root for whoever is losing. Well, BYU put up a good fight, but in the end they were slaughtered.

Here is a shot of the fans. Emotions were running high, I can tell you. When BYU scored, I would watch as the high fives went around and couples kissed :) The Utah couples were just as loyal in their cheering. I thought it was all very funny.

I did bring my BYU sweatshirt to wear around my waist (I would have been a total outcast without some sort of paraphernalia!) Travis cried. That's ok, we know which school will be translated at the second coming... =)

Snow day :(

Here is my cubicle. I always thought it would be fun to have one for some reason. I don't know why... like your own little space all to yourself. I guess that must have been when I was living at home and still sharing a room, because a cubicle is really no fun. Really.

And here is what I drove through to get to my no fun cubicle. Everyone at work was anxious to know how my drive went this morning. This is what they call a "dusting". I call it unnecessary. They say the real fun is when you don't use an ice scraper to get the snow off your windshield, you use a broom. Luckily we have a garage (this is the view from the garage), but now I want one of those remote-start things so it can be warming up while I eat my breakfast!

Don't ask me why I pulled out my camera while taking a turn on the off-ramp of the freeway, but I just had to document my first real time driving in snow! Unfortunately the battery died seconds after I started the video. I had the radio turned off so I could intermittedly pray and talk to myself while driving. You know, " It's ok, it's ok, you can do it, go real slow, almost there...
type stuff. I'm pathetic, I know.

Palmyra- Take 2!

Last Saturday we spent the day in Palmyra with the Spanish speaking Elders, a senior missionary couple and some investigators. The missionaries are teaching a woman, Andrea, and her husband and two children and wanted to take them to see the sites, but needed some help with driving them out there. Andrea also brought a friend and they ALL spoke Spanish. Andrea knew about as much English as I knew Spanish. It made for an interesting day! I attempted to say to the girl, "Tu bonita ojos." She smiled and said gracias! I was quite proud. (I know that's not how you say it, but I guess she understood :)

We did a tour of the Hill Cumorah visitor center. . . . in Spanish- Trav translated for me.

The Edwards (senior couple) brought fixings for lunch and we got to eat in the basement of the visitor's center.

We kind of missed the Fall, so the trees are pretty bare, but these are grounds of the Hill Cumorah.

It was a very cold day, but luckily it didn't rain too much on us. We got our workout, huffing it up the Hill.

At the top!

I thought this was so cute. The little boy was so attached to his copy of the Book of Mormon. He insisted on holding it at all times and would constantly flip through it, even when he wasn't looking at it. We are in the log cabin of the Joseph Smith family here. I found it interesting that even though the tour was given in Spanish, I could feel the Spirit so strongly. It was like it was tangible. Such a neat experience!

The whole group (including the sister missionaries who gave us a tour of the Joseph Smith Farm). The frame home is behind us.

The Sacred Grove in Fall/Winter time. It was a long, but good day. I felt bad for grumbling about it ahead of time, because even though we lost our Saturday (by the time we got home it was time to go to the night session of stake conference, then off to Wal-Mart to go grocery shopping- why is that place always so dang busy!), I haven't felt the Spirit so strongly in a while. Andrea was so nice and it felt good to be helping the missionaries. It makes me wish I had served a mission. Maybe there will still be time! (Someday :)

Todo, we're not in Arizona anymore.

I know what you're thinking, "man, she can make an ugly face! Why would a person post that on her blog?" Well, I just wanted you to see the full effect that snow has on me.

This was the scene I left this morning as I headed off to work. I could hear the tires crunch on the snow as I pulled out of our driveway. A very disconcerting sound to a native Arizonian.

Also disconcerting is the fact that we own neither snow shovel or salt. In fact, what you see below is our food storage. :( We went to a prepardness (is that a word?) night at our church a few weeks back and I realized that we may need more than just a 72 hour kit. Don't worry, this is just the beginning!

Our water supply and backpack of food for 72 hours... Hey at least I've started something!! :)

So you may be confused about my statement above "on my way to work". Yes, I got a job. It's for real this time. As much as I may want to quit, I believe I'll be sticking this one out until the baby comes. I work in Amherst for a company called Bureau Veritas. It's an international company that basically does product testing for retail stores such as Costco, Target, Home Depot, etc. I have the grand privilege of sitting in a cubicle all day, converting files on the computer to a new database. Thrilling, I know. My neck and back have showed their enthusiasm by aching. Someone please remind me why I wanted a job so bad. Just three more months.....

Election Day!

So Trav and I went to our local polling station, the fire station, to vote. There were four, ancient, metal booths. Trav went first and left with a confused look on his face. My turn. I enter and suddenly feel like the wizard on The Wizard of OZ. I think I spent a full minute just looking at it. You can't see in the picture, but there is a big lever on the bottom. After pulling down the switches for the people you vote for, you pull the lever and it "submits" your vote and opens the curtains. I couldn't resist taking a picture for everyone back home in AZ. Not sure if that was a kosher thing to do though....

The most disappointing part was that we didn't get our hard earned sticker! They weren't even handing them out!!! Now what's that all about New York???!!

While the polls aren't looking good, I still hope for the best! Whatever the outcome, I am grateful to live in the USA!

Tags, PG & Weekend Update....

So I've never been tagged before and in the past month I got tagged by Anjane and Melissa Nielsen! Thanks guys! Here it goes:

This tag you have to answer in just one word-that's going to be HARD for me!

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse

2. Where is your significant other? UB (school)

3. Your hair color? Brown

4. Your mother? Funny

5. Your father? Hard-worker

6. Your favorite thing? Hubby

7. Your dream last night? Horrifying

8. Your dream/goal? Mother

9. The room you're in? Office

10. Your hobby? Reading

11. Your fear? Cockroaches

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? AZ

13. Where were you last night? Fireside

14. What you're not? Musical

15. One of your wish-list items? Electric- blanket

16. Where you grew up? Mesa

17. The last thing you ate? Cereal

18. What are you wearing? Pajamas

19. Your TV? Off

20. Your pet? No!

21. Your computer? New

22. Your mood? Sick

23. Missing someone? Davy-love

24. Your car? Functional

25. Something you're not wearing? Bra :)

26. Favorite store? Mall

27. Your summer? = Changes

28. Love someone? Absolutely

29. Your favorite color? Pink

30. When is the last time you laughed? Guitar- Hero

31. Last time you cried? Guitar- Hero (from all the laughing!)

Next tag! : Four, Four, Four, Four!

A) Four places that I go to over and over: UB campus, Wegmans (grocery store), church, Rachel's house!

B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly): YW presidency, mom, 5th graders from last year, Briste

C) Four of my favorite places to eat: Cafe Rio, Gecko Grill, Olive Garden, Red Robin

D) Four places I would rather be right now: Warm beach, shopping, Mesa, temple

E) Four people I love: My husband, Lindblom/Evans Family, Republicans, Towaga (hehe)

F) Four TV shows I watch: The Office, FRIENDS, One Tree Hill, Family Feud

I tag Shelley, Marcie, Rachel, and Stephanie Hines! :)

So those of you wondering who Towaga is, from the previous tag.... he is the little guy in my tummy right now! Apparently my family decided to nickname him and came up with Buffy (for Buffalo), but decided that was too girly, so then came up with Towaga (for Cheektowaga, the town we live it :) When my twin sister was pregnant, my fam nicknamed her fetus, Volcom, because she was considering naming him Nixon and they both are skate brands. Leave it to my family..... :) Well I am 23 weeks pregnant (Sad- I just had to check the counter on my blog to remember how far along I am!) So just one more week til 6 months!! I am feeling great! Lots of movement going on. In fact on Halloween night I felt some pretty solid kicks going on and looked down and could see it from the outside! That was kinda cool to see. I'm busting out the rubber bands on the pants and have two maternity shirts (see above) that I love. I think I'll wear them even when I'm not pregnant, cuz they're just long shirts. :)

Well the parties never stop around here! It was Rachel's birthday on Saturday so we went to dinner with them to Olive Garden, then had a bunch of people over for cake and icecream.

It was also Katie's birthday this weekend, so they helped each other out with the candles.

While I was taking pictures, I noticed Trav disappear upstairs, so I followed shortly after and opened the door to this... Trav rocking Lily back to sleep. So sweet! I guess he heard her screaming and found her with her bow over her eyes. The party was so loud, no one else heard her. He's going to be the best dad... I can't wait!

Wow, I didn't realize how long this post was!! So Sunday night, Trav and I went to a youth fireside, then stopped by the Shaw's to see what was going on! We played some Skip-bo, then rocked out to Guitar Hero. Trav and I couldn't keep up with the Shaw's skills, but it was fun trying anyway!

I know I look like I'm in pain, but let me explain. The first pic that was taken, I was just smiling, and was then told I had to do a "rocker" pose. I knew this entailed sticking out your tongue, so that is what I did. However I guess I did it wrong. I stuck it out like I was the kid on "Christmas Story" touching the ice cold pole with his tongue, to which everyone started laughing at me! Well I kept trying, but couldn't get it right, and was laughing hysterically myself. Tears were rolling down my cheeks by the time we got to this picture. I guess I just wasn't born to rock'n'roll. :)

Bahaha! Trav being melodramatic!

Happy Halloween!!

I love Halloween!! Today was a really fun day. It all started with my yucky hair getting some highlights and all the dead ends getting cut off. I felt like the new Jan Brady! (that was for my mother:) Thanks Rach- I love it! Then Rachel and I met up with Megan and Crescent for lunch at Panera Bread to celebrate Rachel's birthday (even though it's tomorrow). We ended the day with carving pumpkins at our house...

What would I do without those stencil pages?? I'm not so creative.

Well, Trav's grim reaper didn't exactly turn out the way he had planned... I was happy it was just that and not his fingers getting cut off as I continued to hear expletives (not really, but close :) coming from his side of the table.

Well, I guess this pumpkin learned not to make a man with a knife angry!

All better!!! Haha!

Trav had to add a little "throw up". Cringe

The finished products!

Next, we grabbed some pizza's and headed to the Smith's house. Being the documenter that I am, I grabbed my camera for a candid photo.

 Looks like Ryan caught on, but Rachel wasn't too happy, and asked if I would take another one...

Well, Travis just couldn't act normal, so I tried again....

And this time it was Doug's turn.... Haha. I guess I learned my lesson. People can only take getting their picture taken so many times in a night before they get loopy! We had a fun time stuffing our faces and watching The Dark Knight on the big screen. Oh, what a night!! :)