Pumpkin Yummies

I made some super easy and super delicious pumpkin cookies today.  I got this awesome recipe from a co-worker and boy is it a keeper.

3 ingredients:

1 box spice cake mix

1 can pumpkin

chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate, mmm!)

They came out super fluffy and awesome, and there's no butter or oil or anything super fatty! I'm glad I bought enough to make another batch soon!

Where did fall go?

Is it just me, or was this fall SUPER short?  I love fall, but it's the second week in November and it's definitely winter out there! I wish I could have enjoyed the nice weather and pretty colors just a little bit longer, but at least we got some cute pictures in Provo Canyon before we froze over.

Happy Halloween

This Halloween weekend we ganged up with some of our neighbors to make the best trunk for our ward trunk-or-treat party.   We spent most of our day getting ready to win first place in the trunk decorating contest.   Can you guess what our theme was?

Me Crew

Me Lover

Me Ship

Me Friends

Unfortunately we didn't win, but I think we should have don't you?

The faculty at school also dressed up as pirates so I got to wear my costume again on Halloween. I am a little sad though that this year I didn't eat very much candy.  Maybe I'll go catch the after Halloween sales!

Anti-Social

I have become anti-social.

I got to work.  I come home.  I eat dinner.  I grade, plan, or take a nap while watching T.V. with Matt.  (Sometimes I switch it up and go grocery shopping).  I got to bed.  I do it all over again the next day.  Sometimes I try reading, but I can only get about 1 chapter in before teacher-exhaustion steps in.  I feel like a robot.

Most importantly, I have nothing to blog about.  I need a new hobby.  Any Ideas?

Past the Parking Lot

A few weeks ago in sacrament meeting, one of the counselors in our bishopric talked about a phrase his mother used to use: "Take it past the parking lot." 

We often go to church, firesides, activities, conferences and hear wonderful things that make us want to change.  We may even take notes, and write down quotes that we like.  We make goals while listening to wonderful speakers and have every intention of going home and improving ourselves, but for some reason it all disappears as soon as we get to the parking lot.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and have realized just how guilty of this I am.  I get so much inspiration at church, but as soon as I get back to my weekly schedule I forget about all those things that I wanted to do or change.

This week we had an awesome Stake/Regional conference, and general conference is just around the corner.  I am really going to try to make a conscious effort to take what I learn "past the parking lot".

Coupons

I am sucker for good deals.  So, I've started to get into using coupons a lot this past year, and I have recently had a few awesome deals.  A few days ago Matt and I went to Target to get a little shopping done, and I printed a bunch of Target coupons from my computer at work.  The awesome thing about Target is that you can use one Target coupon and one manufacturer's coupon on the same item.  So we got these yummy chocolates for FREEEEE! (They were priced at $2.99)

We got the dark chocolate ones!

Another deal I got a while ago also as Target was the game Battleship.  I got it for a Easter gift for Matt since we love playing games.  I used 2 coupons on it too and got it for $4! It was originally $19.99.  I'd say that's a steal.

Don't worry, I'm not going to become one of those crazy coupon ladies.. but it does feel awesome to get good deals like these.

Summer Reading

Three of my favorite things about being a teacher: June, July and August.  This summer I has quite a bit of time to do one of my favorite leisure actives... READ!

Here's what some of my summer reading list looked like..

 

Princess Academy was an adorable story about a girl who finds out who she really is.

Insurgent! If you haven't read the divergent series get started.. the final book of the trilogy comes out this spring.

 

June Bug and One, Two, Buckle my Shoe were both great mysteries.  I am really starting to love mystery novels.

 

The Secret Garden may have made my top 20 books list.  I absolutely LOVED it and the morals in it.

The Mysterious Benedict Society was also an awesome children's adventure!

I also finished off the Books of Bayern.  The Goose Girl and River Secrets were by far the best fairytales I've read, but the other two were quite slow and a little redundant.

I read a few more, but these are the ones I'd recommend to anyone.  Right now I'm reading The Poisonwood Bible which is HILARIOUS!! I can't wait to get back to reading it.  And I'm also currently reading Manhunt which is a history book about John Wilkes Booth.  It's fascinating and really makes me want to visit Washington D.C. so I can check out Ford's Theatre and all these places I'm reading about.

As Mark Twain once said, "The man who doesn't read has no advantage over the man who can't read."  So get Reading!