Fall

Fall has been one of our favorite times of the year recently. We have kind of settled into our house and are loving the gorgeous trees and mountains near our house. Here are some highlights of our last few months:

We have fixed up this house a little bit and have enjoyed it. (New countertops, patio door, gutters, gate and fence, and other boring stuff)

James has blown me away with his Plumbing capabilities. With the help of others, he has plumbed a gas line for our dryer, and re-plumbed our kitchen sink and bathroom sink. Can I hear a HALLELUJAH?! This family isn't paying top dollar for plumbers. We do it ourSELVES!

We grew mustaches as a family. (we thought, what the heck? why not?)

Lola wears it well

I could sport this, couldn't I?!

James' mustache is real. He is growing one for "no shave november"

In October, We took a quick weekend trip to Sun Valley, Idaho with some friends for conference weekend. We shot some guns & ate some really yummy food.

We had a Happy Halloween.

We dressed up like a nun and priest to a costume party. James kept beginning every conversation with "That reminds me of a scripture!" and would turn to a page in the bible. 

We had Lola wear a hot dog costume. It lasted for about 3 seconds, then ended up in a shriveled up pile on the floor. We attempted this 7 different times, and the same thing happened every time.

Some of our friends from Halloween.

We took Lola to dog obedience classes and met a lot of dog loving hippie people. We realized its probably time to have kids. We don't want to turn out like some of the people we met in dog class.

Jen has a calling in church- she is the activity days leader for the 8 and 9 year old girls! Is that the best calling or what?

We love you all. I hope the pictures loaded (or else the "we grew mustaches as a family comment will not make sense and may sound really awkward)

Our little home

We really did it.. We bought our first house! It needs a little bit of work, but not much! It's in Millcreek area near skyline high school, and a great neighborhood. We lucked out with this one!

July is a piece of pie :)

Hello blog world! Isn't summer wonderful? Here is an update of our summer so far.

We have been lucky to go on a bunch of trips with family and with just the two of us. We went to Denver or a business trip for James, we went to lake powell with the gilsons, we went to Newport beach with my family, and we have had fun on small little weekend trips.

I am also training for the top of Utah half marathon on August 25 in logan Utah. I'm kind of enjoying running now. I used to not like it. I'm excited to see how I do.

We are enjoying our jobs. We are happy it's warm :)

Denver

James and Pete getting ready to hit the waves

We got to go to disneyland on our trip to the beach!

James really really likes Space Mountain.

Who are these good looking men wearing these good looking hats?

After a run one morning

Sunshine in Arizona

Here we are in sunny Arizona. Jen grew up here and we come visit Arizona as often as we can.

We are so happy to finally be WARM!

We rented a car for munchkins. When we hop out, we wait for 15 other little people and clowns to hop out with us.

Kissing cousins. Eeeww!

Lounging

How did we end up here? Hmm, guess we better go inside!

My sister's hotel is sooo pretty.

Steve is a photo bomber. But Hey, it turned out for the better having him in the background.

Crazy cousins. I love Abby's pose in the back.

We drove straight from the airport to Last Chance. (It is a store that sells clothes and shoes that do not sell while at Nordstrom Rack) Shirts for $4!! Cant pass that up.

Greatest thing about going on a trip: No Cooking, No dishes, and DELICIOUS MEXICAN FOOD!

You may think it's inappropriate to snap pics during church, but these kids were crawling all over me and we couldn't help but take a picture of these cuties.

CHEERS to our 4 day vacation His and Hers treats.

James went a little overboard when I asked him to pick out a "few snacks" at Target. I couldn't breathe because i was laughing so hard at the cart full of junk food he wheeled around.

Lola

We got a dog! She is two years old and we adopted her from the Humane Society about three weeks ago. She has so much LOVE inside her little 65 lb body. We can't stop playing with her. Perfect timing for summer - she will be coming on many little adventures and hikes with us. She is our little slobbery buddy.

james bday!

waving to uncle kent when we first saw him

so happy to be in front of the empire state bldg

lunch was at stardust - a restaurant that had live karaoke performed by all waiters. they stood on the tables. it was awesome

in front of stardust - the legendary lunch spot

in front of the rockefeller building

this ice skating rink cost $75 for an hour of ice skating! Did we splurge? No thank you..

at the top of the rockefeller building

top of the rock

my uncle kent is THE BEST

at the MOMA Museum of Modern Art

in front of an andy warhol

we met up with my cousin austin hackett (he goes to medical school at columbia)

uncle kent's apartment

subway

ground zero (they are building lots of sky scrapers around it)

one of the 9/11 reflection pools. it is the exact size of the original tower. the water falls 30 feet down into a smaller square "abyss"

the bull statue on wall street

check it out! there was a man walking around dressed as a plastic army figurine!