Happy Thanksgiving!

*Note: In case some of you might not know, Roger's family moved from Oklahoma to Colorado, so that's why we came to Colorado for Thanksgiving.

For our Thanksgiving dinner we went to one of Roger's cousin's houses. I hadn't met very many of Roger's cousins, so it was fun to meet some of them there. Here are some pictures from the festivities.

On Wednesday, KD and I made pies. She made the crust while I made the filling. We made 4 pumpkin, 1 lemon-meringue, and 1 apple. MMMM!

Yummy appetizers

How many guys does it take to fry a turkey?

Taking it out of the oil

And carving it!

Twilight Review

Before I start this I must give my disclaimer: If you haven't read Twilight or seen the movie, I MAY spoil some things. I'm not really planning on it, but if I do, I'm sorry... You were warned!

As it started, I kept noticing things that were wrong... Some were things that were different in the book; i.e., Bella didn't call her mom she emailed her, they were going to Prom at the beginning when it was the spring dance (a girl's choice), Bella got more information about vampires from Jacob, she didn't go into the book store, they skipped the meadow scene, they didn't go to the Arizona airport (I could go on and on)...

And then some of the things I had just imagined differently (the main problem with reading a book and then seeing the movie); i.e., Arizona didn't seem warm enough, Bella's bedroom was too cluttered, the dance studio wasn't right (probably because I imagined my dance studio), and then some of the people were just not how I pictured them.

I had imagined everyone being white, so it threw me when Eric and Angela were Asians. (I have no problem with Asians, I just hadn't imagined them that way.) Rosalie wasn't beautiful enough. (I swear I could see her brown roots!) And Jasper wasn't what I had imagined either. However, some of the characters were right on. I really liked Bella, Alice, Esme, Jessica, Mike, and Charlie. The other characters were somewhere in between. I would have really liked Victoria, but her hair wasn't red enough. In the book she describes it as fire, so I imagined in like my SIL, Kenzie's hair. And I guess this discription wouldn't be complete without Edward... I just didn't know what to think of him. Sometimes I liked him, but sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I think they overdid the whole vampire thing. I'll leave it at that.

But when I got over all these things, I ended up really liking it. I had heard that they skipped too much of the romance, but I thought it was just right. I actually thought their love was believable.

I'm both excited and nervous to see New Moon when it comes out. New Moon was my favorite book to read because I thought she did such a good job describing the anguish Bella felt when Edward left (there I go spoiling things). I just don't know if they'll be able to show that anguish in the movie, so that might be a make-it-or-break-it point for me.

Anyway, if you haven't seen Twilight, I would recommend it. Even if you haven't read the books. In fact, not reading the books would probably make it better because you wouldn't be so picky like I was!

I'm back!

I have come out of my temporary depression over the BYU vs. Utah game and I'm back. Haha... Really I have just been busy getting ready for our trip to Colorado for Thanksgiving. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do, so this post will probably have a little bit of everything in it. To start out, here's a look at where I spent most of last week.

We had to close the October financial statements before Thanksgiving (which is about a week faster than our normal close) and it seemed that something went weird in almost all of my accounts that made it take longer than usual, so last week I went in early and came home late nearly every day. It never was more than an hour early or an hour late, but usually I stick to my 9-5 pretty dang closely, so it seemed like I was ALWAYS there! It was a little tense in our office last week, but with the three of us staff accountants working together, we did it!

Now for my commentary on the BYU vs. Utah game (part of my grieving process). I knew going into the game that there was a definite possibility that we would lose. But I wanted to go to the game anyway because if we did win, I knew it would be awesome. Turns out we did lose, but it was a good, close game for most of it. Too bad Max Hall had to have the worst game of his career!

We were sitting with a bunch of APX employees, mostly BYU fans, but some Utah fans were mixed in. Right next to us was a pair of the dumbest, most annoying girl Utah fans EVER! You know, the ones you wonder why they even came. They kept leaving and coming back. And they were wearing pink Utah sweatshirts. Now don't get me wrong, I own a pink BYU sweatshirt, but I would NEVER, EVER wear it to a football game. Just in case you don't know, you are supposed to wear your team's color to the game!

Then right behind us was another pair of Utah fans. But this time it was a married couple (I think). They were fine most of the time until the 4th quarter when the girl kept yelling, "Thank you Max Hall!" It was super annoying, but at least she recognized that they were winning because of our QB having an AWFUL game and not necessarily because of anything the U was doing.

I really did enjoy the game (minus the 4th quarter). Honestly my major complaint about the game was the cost of TRAX. Growing up Amber (my BFF), my sister, and I would ride TRAX downtown to go shopping quite a bit. And then in high school my friends and I would all ride TRAX downtown just for something different to do. This might not be 100% accurate, but I remember it costing somewhere between $1 and $2 for an all day pass. So to avoid the parking nightmare up at the stadium, I thought we would park in Sandy and then ride TRAX to the stadium. This was a good plan except that now it costs $5.50 for an all day pass!! Talk about INFLATION!!

Here is a picture of us at the game. We didn't take very many because I accidentally left our memory card in my computer, so we were limited to the internal storage on the camera. I think we were waiting to see if we would win to save our limited pictures for some of us with the scoreboard, but when it became apparent that we would lose we had the annoying "Thank you Max Hall" girl take this picture of us in a sea of Red.

Finally, for our FHE last night we made thankful turkeys. This has become a tradition for me. I think I have made them every single year I have been at BYU. We were super busy last night packing, filming a dance Diana made me be in for one of her classes, Rog visiting his friend from California who was at a cabin in Springville for Thanksgiving, and who knows what else. But we made time for this. It was good to reflect on our many blessings because we are so blessed!


Now we are in Colorado with Roger's family and all we have to do is relax and eat lots of turkey! Tomorrow I am finally going to see Twilight! I have heard mixed reviews, so my plan is to go into it not expecting too much and then if it is good, it will have exceeded my expectations. Stay tuned for my review.

Thank you APX!!!

Today at work I found out that APX had purchased some tickets to the BYU vs. Utah game tomorrow. But of course it was just managers who got the tickets. About an hour after I got off work, I got a call from the Purchasing Manager. His office is right across the hall from mine, so we're tight. Haha... Anyway, he asked if I wanted two tickets to the game and of course I said YES! I guess he couldn't use his or something.

We are super excited to be going, but also pretty nervous for the outcome. Come on Cougars... Let's make it 3 years in a row!

You know you are living in 2008 when...

Someone sent this to me at work today and I thought it was pretty funny. Enjoy!

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played Solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You email the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that you don't have their email addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on tv has a website at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have for the first years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go online before you get your coffee (or breakfast if you don't drink coffee).

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :)

12. You are too busy to notice there was no number 9 on this list.

13. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a number 9 on this list.

Quite the Adventure!

Today I had an eye appointment at 2:30. I left work around 2:10, so I could have time to fill out all the paperwork because it was my first time going to this doctor. (I had a bad experience with my last eye doctor.) When I walked in a very unfriendly face greeted me. It took her awhile to find me in the computer and when she did she said, "Your appointment is in Payson." I couldn't believe it! Why would I schedule an appointment all the way in Payson when they have offices both in Orem and Provo?? Fortunately the other girl at the front desk was much nicer. She made a few clicks and then announced that there was an opening at this office. PHEW!!

So after I filled out all the paperwork, I sat down to wait. After about a half hour I started to get VERY worried especially since many people who had come in after me had already gone back. Finally one of the doctor's assistants came up to the desk and yelled at the receptionists for not informing her that they added me. She called me back and appologized.

From there the appointment went much more smoothly. I liked this doctor much better than my last eye doctor. He said I needed a stronger prescription, but I was expecting that. He also said that my eyes looked very healthy and that my cataracts (yes, I have cataracts at 22) are very mild. The last doctor I saw who informed me that I have cataracts made me feel like they were awful. And considering that I had to wait probably 40 minutes, I got out of there in good time.

On my way back to work, I called Roger to tell him about my appointment. As I was saying goodbye, I started to hear a bad noise coming from my back right tire. I pulled over and sure enough, it was flat! I totally changed it myself even though I was in tears for most of the experience and I had Rog telling me what to do most of the time.

About 2 hours from the time I left work, I pulled back into the parking lot. My hands were dirty, but I was pretty proud to tell my coworkers that I changed my tire! And of course I took pictures to document my tire changing success!

Just in case you were wondering... Yes, I get to ride the scooter again tomorrow! YIPEE!!

Old Married Couple

We realized that we haven't been on a REAL date for quite a while. Don't get me wrong. We do things together, but we haven't taken the time to go on a good old fashion date. Either we are too cheap to go out or we just feel like being lazy at our apartment. So last night we decided we would do something about this.

We went to Chili's for dinner. Then we were planning on going mini golfing because we had a buy one get one free coupon. But when we got there we realized the coupon was for a different place than we were thinking... We're smart! So we decided that we would rent a movie. We had to go to Maceys to get some food for dinner tonight, so we got Leatherheads from the RedBox at Maceys. We hadn't heard anything about it, so we didn't know if it would be any good. But we actually really enjoyed it.

The best part of the date: because we used a gift card at Chili's and rented from RedBox, the whole date only cost us $1.06!! No actually the best part was getting to hang out with my honey bunches!

Accounting Lunch

Put 3 staff accountants in charge of planning a Thanksgiving-themed Accounting Department Lunch and this is what you get:

Get it??

Navajo tacos for the main course because of the Indians. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for the movie... with popcorn and Swedish Fish for snacks during the movie because the Indians told the Pilgrims to plant fish with their corn kernels, so the decaying fish would fertilize the soil and make the corn grow better.

Yes, we are nerds. But we thought we were pretty clever!

Happy Birthday Tracy!

And Happy Veteran's Day everyone!

Tracy is my mom's sister, one of my two aunts. She lives in Virginia with her husband, Chris, and her son, Sam. We don't get to see them too often, but she is one of the faithful readers of my blog and her comments always bring a smile to my face! I hope you had a great birthday Tracy! If I were there I would make you a big yummy cake, but I guess my birthday wishes will have to do!

Wife Abuse

Over the summer I drove our scooter, Cliff, to work every day. But now that it is much colder, I have been driving our car, Fred, to work. Because our tires needed to be rotated and we needed an oil change, I had to take Cliff today.

I knew this was coming and really have been dreading it which is silly because we took Cliff up to campus many many days last winter. They have practically no parking for cars, but plenty of parking for scooters. And even though we live pretty dang close to campus, we would take Cliff on the days Rog had to work, so he could get there on time. I guess the difference lies in the fact that campus is about a mile away and my work is five miles away!

Anyway, I bundled up in a sweatshirt with a warm-up jacket over it, two pairs of gloves, my fleece headband I wear running, and a scarf. And it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Rog surprised me by showing up at my work to switch vehicles after he had the tires rotated and the oil changed. So I guess it wasn't really wife abuse... Thanks for taking care of Fred and Cliff, babe!

I don't get it...

A few months ago a new Walgreens opened right across the street from the Rite Aid we usually go to to fill our prescriptions. This always blows my mind:

Pretty much every month we transfer my birth control prescription from one pharmacy to the other and get a gift card. They don't let you use the gift card to pay for your prescription... So we pay $7 for the prescription and then get $25 or $30 to spend on whatever we want. I guess they get money from the insurance company and that makes it worth it for them?

Who doesn't love the weekend?!

This weekend was busy (as most are), but great. Friday night we finally saw Mamma Mia! I have been dying to see it since it came out. But I decided I could wait until it came to the dollar theatre. It seriously took sooooooooooooo long to get there, but it was worth the wait! I LOVED IT and Rog even enjoyed it.

Saturday was tap practice in the morning and then the last home game of the season for BYU. We played San Diego State, so of course we won. I'm hoping that it was a confidence builder for the team. I'm a little bit nervous for the Air Force game next weekend and VERY nervous for the Utah game in two weeks.

Before the game we had our usual tailgate party with my Grandpa and Grandma Ririe. My grandma made yummy chili and we brought cookies with blue frosting. (Yay for food coloring!) Then we sat with some couples in our ward. It was a good game, but it's always sad to see a season start to come to an end.

After the game I went up to Salt Lake for my friend Emily's bridal shower. I forgot my camera in the car, so I don't have any pictures. Maybe I'll steal some from her blog when she posts them. It was a fun shower and it was good to see some friends from high school that I haven't seen in a while.

Rog the Frog

I don't post much about Roger on here, but I've been wanting too. I saw this tag on Ashley Lee's blog and thought I would do it even though she didn't technically tag me.

What is your husband's full name? Roger Demott Phillips

How long have you been married? 1.5 years!

How long did you date? 6 months before we got engaged and then we were engaged 4 months.

How old is he? 23 (exactly 1 year and 2 months older than me).

Who eats more sweets? That's a tough one, but I would probably have to say he does. Sometimes he can't stop himself and usually he ends up making himself sick. (Silly boy!)

Who said I love you first? I did! He refused to say it until he asked me to marry him.

Who is taller? He is... by 2 whole inches. I'm 5'5'' and he is 5'7''. We are short people.

Who can sing better? Haha! Neither of us can sing!

Who is smarter? Well, I am smarter in the school sense, but he is smarter in other ways.

Who does the laundry? I usually do it. But he helps me by carrying the basket down to the laundry room. And he helps fold too. But in the future that will be my job while he is at work and the laundry room isn't so far away.

Who pays the bills? I'm an accountant, need I say more?

Who mows the lawn? We don't have our own lawn right now, but that will definitely be his job when we do!

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do, we tried to switch it up once and it was just weird!

Who cooks dinner? We both do. He's the house husband right now, so he does it a lot, but if it's a new recipe I usually try it first.

Who drives? Most of the time when we're together he does. But sometimes I do. Long roadtrips are definitely his area though.

Who kissed who first? He kissed me. It was really cute because he asked if he could.

Who asked who out first? Technically he did, but it was only because I convinced his roommate to take my sister on a date and have us double with them.

My husband is AWESOME! He treats me so well and works so hard for me! He always knows how to make me smile and laugh when I'm having a bad day. He is just so stinking cute!

New Shoes!

I've said it before and I'll say it again.... Sometimes my job can get a little tedious. But what job isn't? So occasionally I take little mental breaks. On one of these mental breaks, I found myself looking at shoes online. I really wasn't planning on buying anything. But then I saw them... They were cute, on sale, with free shipping, and the only size left was my size! How could I not buy them? On Wednesday they arrived and I LOVE them! (Mine are the darker brown, I think.)

Lemon-Zucchini Pound Cake

Last week was the final week of our October month of autumn deserts. I tried a new recipe and it was pretty good. It wasn't our favorite, but it also wasn't bad by any means. We shared a lot with our neighbors because we didn't finish it before we left for St. George. Here's the recipe for anyone that is interested.

Cake:

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

4 eggs

2/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

1 cup shredded zucchini

Lemon Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1 tablespoon half-and-half

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bundt cake pan with shortening. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with spoon; set aside. In large bowl, beat 1 cup butter with electric mixer on medium speed about 2 minutes or until creamy. Beat in 2 cups powdered sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with milk, beating well on low speed after each addition. Stir in lemon juice, lemon peel, and zucchini. Spoon into pan. Bake 50-60 minutes.

In 1-quart saucepan, heat all glaze ingredients just to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Let stand 30 minutes until slightly thickened. Drizzle over cake.

We voted, did you!?!

Last night Rog had the brilliant idea that we could run to our polling location (about a mile away), vote, and then run back. We thought that if we got there right when the polls opened at 7:00, we wouldn't have to wait. Well, we were definitely wrong. We had to wait about a half hour, but that wasn't so bad. We were glad to see so many people out to vote! We were proud to wear our voter stickers all day and grateful that we live in a country where we have a say in who leads us.

This was my second presidential election and Rog's first (he was on his mission for 2004). But this time I actually knew a lot more about the major issues. I still ended up voting Republican, but I felt better knowing that I wasn't just blindly voting.

It will be interesting to see how the election turns out. It'll probably be Obama, but I am still hoping that McCain will pull through. I said that if Hillary Clinton won the election I would move to Canada, so at least she's already out and I can stay here in the good old USA!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween started out bright and early for me. I had to be at work at 7:45 (I usually get there between 9:00 and 9:15). And I spent the whole day counting these:

Well, actually this is the latest model that we are installing, APX 32 EN. I got to spend the whole day counting APX 32 which is the older model that we aren't installing anymore. In other words, I had to spend the whole day counting OBSOLETE inventory. Luckily, we finished around 2:00 and I got to leave at 3:00 to drive down to St. George for the weekend.

My parents were nice enough to buy us tickets to Thriller at the Tuachan. Thriller is a Halloween themed dance concert put on by Odyssey Dance Theatre (a company based in Utah Valley). My family has seen Thriller many times, but Roger and Jason had never been. It's a really cool, unique dance concert, so everyone can enjoy it.

Finally before we went to bed, we dressed up just to take pictures. I thought of the idea for our costumes months ago, so even though we didn't have an opportunity to wear them anywhere, I still wanted us to dress up in them. I was Miss America and Roger was a nerd.

This was the first formal dress I ever bought and I was pretty proud that it still fits perfectly. We forgot to slick Rog's hair, but other than that, I think our costumes turned out pretty cool.

Goodbye Temple

Tuesday was our last shift working at the temple. We have been working there for one year, so we decided it was our time to be done. It definitely wasn't an easy decision because we have loved working as ordinance workers. We learned so much and are so grateful for the opportunity we've had to work there this last year.