As we inch closer to Thanksgiving, I thought it would be nice to reflect on Halloween........better late than never hey? The weekend before Halloween I ran a 80's themed 5k in San Diego with some friends, which was loads of fun. Unfortunately I had a rehearsal for SDMC immediately following the race so I had no time to change before practice began. Needless to say I was the subject of lots of jokes.

Today felt like a good day to do some blog catch-up, so here goes. As part of Hugh's job he has to travel a lot, and when he's gone for a couple days or more I get restless and spend all his money (ok, not all of it, but a good sum!) Plus, I enjoy surprising him when he gets home with all the new stuff I did...even though I'm generally MUCH more excited about it than he. These are a couple pictures of some of my projects.


Hugh and I are members of the San Diego Master Chorale, which has been a wonderful experience thus far. This week both of us auditioned and were selected for solos this Fall Season. Hugh is the soloist on the piece "The Dying Soldier" (arr. by Mack Wilberg) and on a portion of a Porgy and Bess medley. I'm the soloist on a piece called "Benedictus." We're both very pleased with our opportunities.

And now for my most favorite news of all! In between all of this I have been going to the gym (YMCA) at least 3-5 times a week, which I was happy with, but felt as though I wasn't getting the most out of my time at the gym. So, I signed up for the YMCA's "Shift" program,  an intensive four week competition between all those who signed up at my gym, and those who were participating at the other east county YMCA facility. The program entailed meeting with a trainer 3 times a week, attending at least one other class at the gym every week, and keeping a food log. At the beginning of the month I felt like I was going to die, I just wasn't in very good shape.  Four weeks later I am pleased to say that I not only completed the program, but I WON!! Wahoooooooooo! I may not have lost the most weight, but I had the highest percentage of overall improvement. The first day of "Shift" we did weigh in, measurements, a mile run, sit-ups for 2 minutes, and push-ups for a minute thirty. I only lost 2 pounds BUT I lost four inches around my waist, one inch around my chest, two total around my legs, and.....zero around my arms. That means that I gained a good amount in muscle, which I am stoked about. Also, I more than doubled the amount of both sit-ups and push-ups within the given time and knocked almost 2 minutes off my mile time. I know this post is really braggy, but I'm just SUPER proud my myself. Anyway that's all for now. Here's a fantastic picture of the cat to leave you with.

Some weekends are better than others, and this past one was one of those. Friday night we went to Boomers to play putt-putt. Hugh has a different set of rules for miniature golf than I do, which include counting a ball hit out of the course and thrown back in as one stroke.....? According to his rule book that is not cheating and completely fair. Once we got to the last few holes I took up his rules because I was getting a little miffed at the whole situation. Needless to say, he "won." :)

I'm telling you, Hugh and I have perfected the creeper face.

Our best putt-putt poses

Saturday we took a day trip to La Jolla Coves since Hugh hasn't been yet. I mistakenly thought it wouldn't be that crowded because it was a bit overcast and chilly. Wrong. It was packed, but we still had a nice time despite having to park forever away from everything. There were some adorable baby seals laying out on the rocks and all the older seals were very active in the water. Before going home we went to a popular Jewish restaurant and bakery named D.Z. Akin's, for a late lunch. Our food was all really good but we didn't save room for dessert which was a real shame because their pastries looked fantastic. Next time.

Massive seaweed. That thing was heavy, and stinky.



D.Z. Akin's menus are no joke, they're huge and contain practically a thousand options. I had to post the picture of Hugh holding the menu because you can't even see the top of my head in mine.

Sunday I got to sing in a trio with a lady in our ward and a Sister (Missionary) Riggs who happened to receive her vocal performance degree from BYU. Funny huh? Anyway, it was SOOOO nice to sing with two stellar female vocalists. I've missed that since leaving Rexburg. Later that night we played the best game of Boggle I've ever been a part of. Here's proof:

Okay, maybe not the best game I've ever played, but come on......42 points in one round!!?? Although I probably shouldn't port this because now you all know I have to do long hand addition with simple numbers. Don't hate.

 That was a great way to end a great weekend. Here's to hoping you all had a good weekend too!

             We have been down in El Cajon for almost two months now and I finally feel like we are settling into a routine. Our apartment is put together save for anything hanging on the walls so once I get to that I'll post pictures of the place. The whole transition from life at Brent and Carla's in Pasadena to our own place in El Cajon has been much better than I thought. Because of rearrangements in the stake we landed back into the same ward we were in during our internship last year. We hadn't even attended the ward yet, so we mistakenly figured no one knew we were even back, but we received a call from the second counselor asking us to come in to meet with him before church our first week. Anyway, they don't even have our records yet but Hugh is the Priest Quorum advisor and I am the Second Counselor in the Primary (over Cub Scouts.......). Accepting a calling so soon after moving was actually great because I immediately felt like I had things to do and was meeting people from the ward a lot more quickly than I would have otherwise. Not to mention our primary program is next month so as a presidency we've been busy.

When I'm not doing official  Primary bidness I occasionally go to target to find the biggest ugliest earrings ever made.

            We celebrated Hugh's birthday a week late by going out to a Asian Buffet and then to see The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX. Unfortunately we packed in too much food at dinner to eat the Cherry Cream Cheese Pie I made him, but he was a sport and blew out candles for pictures sake. We took care of the pie the next day around breakfast time.....or in place of breakfast time?


            About a week later we celebrated our 2 year anniversary by going to Sea World!!!!! Hugh gets infinite brownie points for mustering up the courage (after a great deal of prodding on my part) to go on the two roller coasters at the park. Now you see, I LOVE roller coasters, but I have never enjoyed a roller coaster as much as I did that day.....at the expense of Hugh. Oh man, he was SO scared. Hilarious. Screaming the entire time. And what was even better, after waiting in line for probably 45 min to an hour for one coaster, forcing Hugh to sit in the very back (because it is faster that way and loads better), and riding the thing, it breaks down right before the last turn! Then we had to just sit there in our seats, strapped in, and Hugh in his fear pushed down the restraint on his legs even farther so he was pretty uncomfortable for about 20+ minutes before the crew walked up the track and had to manually let us off one at a time. We got the last ride though because they had to shut it down and send everyone in line away. Perfect timing if you ask me. If you ask Hugh he would say we were too early :) Due to the inconvenience of being stranded on the coaster the park gave us two front of the line passes, good for 6 guests each, to any ride in the park. I asked Hugh if he wanted to go on the non broken coaster again.....................he said no.

I made Hugh a cake for our big day and on that I day I found out my oven is lopsided. Fail

Hugh was kind enough to make me a salad. While I was in the other room he asked, "Is this enough?" I figured he has good judgment,  "Sure sweetheart." This is what he came back with. So sweet.

I didn't bring my phone into the park because it would have gotten wet, so this is all I have to show from our day at Sea World. Hugh got much more burnt than I, this picture doesn't do a good job of showing it.

I got a good sandal line though!

           Pearl had a traumatic time getting down here and adjusting to her new environment but all is well now. I'm also happy to say she is now flea free after two baths, rigorous combings with soapy water everyday for about two weeks (because baths were REALLY not going well, and a flea collar. She is back to being rambunctious but strangely enough since the move she is much more affectionate and I'm certainly not complaining. I get the affection during the day but poor Hugh gets all of Pearls attention at night. She has taken to sleeping right in the crook of his neck or half on his face and half on his pillow. I personally find it adorable.

Hugh and his sleeping buddy.

Proof that she likes me too and that I am a creeper.

She LOOOOVES this chair.

           Well that's all for now. Sorry for such a lengthy post. Ciao!

         
                   

Yesterday was Hughberts birthday so I thought I would share some of the reasons why he's so great.

1) When I make cupcakes and Hugh says he wants "one", he doesn't really mean one :)

I seriously cannot stop laughing at this picture. SO. Awesome

The past two months were very busy, here's a quick rundown.

1) Hugh got a job!!! He accepted a job as an accountant at Wilkinson Hadley King & Co., LLP in El Cajon, CA. We had been job searching and interviewing for, what seemed like, a long time and with no luck. After being frustrated about not hearing back from anyone for a sufficient amount of time this company in El Cajon contacted Hugh. It wasn't completely out of the blue, this is the same company where Hugh interned last year, but we hadn't applied to work for them full time. Turns out they love Hugh (we already knew this, but I guess not to the exact degree) and want him back for good. We'll be moving down there next week. Here's to Hugh, for giving unemployment a swift kick :)

2) We found an apartment! El Cajon is not the best of cities, in fact it is pretty ghetto, but we found a place nonetheless. Initally we were looking for a place in the surrounding cities which are much more family friendly, but because we only have one car and I'll be driving Hugh to and from work everyday we settled on a gated complex in El Cajon. Plus, because the apartment is in somewhat seedy El Cajon it's super cheap! Yeah for saving money. On the 30th we'll be moving. 


3) For those who didn't know I was our ward's young women's camp director. On June 9th we had our fundraiser. Woof. Planning and putting on a fundraiser is no joke. Seriously. So much work. For a good two days after the event I was exhausted. The fundraiser was carnival themed. We did a BBQ dinner, silent and live auction, games (like a ring toss, duck pond, etc), face painting, and caricatures. There is a guy in our ward who is a story artist for Dreamworks and he so graciously did the caricatures, which were AWESOME. Overall the fundraiser was a huge success and looking back I am glad I got to be a part of it. The only regret I have is that no pictures were taken! What a bummer!

4) We saw Avengers in the theaters.....twice. Both times were great. Hugh and I are big fans of that movie tell you what.

5) Carla ordered and received four new chicks!! The company that she went through ships the chicks the day they hatch, Monday, and we received them Tuesday. Unfortunately one of them died the second day we had them, but the other three are alive and happy as can be. They grow so fast, it's mind boggling.

6) We had fun and did cool stuff. Here's some pictures.

At the casting pond with the family catching tadpoles.

A couple weeks later we went back and Tadah! Frogs.

Henry dude Henry is SO good at saying Hughs and my name. Love that boy!

Ella dancing at Judy's ward fundraiser

Sophie is a pro at crossing her eyes. And making string cheese mustaches.

Galco's is a local soda shop that only sells glass bottled pop. Hugh and I frequent it now thanks to Elliott :)

Judy and Ella REALLY like Big Hunks...or candy? Both?

This was Ella's "Roger"

For Mothers Day Lyle made cinnamon rolls (from scratch) for Carla. Even though Lyle doesn't think Mother's Day is an occasion to celebrate "future" mother's Hugh thought it was appropriate to serve me a roll on a platter.

She LOVES boxes

Slowly but surely they are starting to tolerate each other

The Easter Egger on day 1

Day 1: Far left is the Rhode Island Red that we lost, 2nd left is the Silver Maran, then the Red Partridge, and the Easter Egger

The Silver Maran likes to sleep with her legs out sometimes. Usually it looks like she's dead.

Sometimes Pearl gets really curious about the chicks and stares at them through this little hole in the box. Usually she's just terrified by them though.

First trip outside

Sleeping again

Easter Egger at about 3 1/2 weeks. Emily Phan is holding her. I'm sad her cute stripes are gone :(

From left to right: Easter Egger, Silver Maran, Red Partridge

See that M&M at the bottom. See Pearl with her tongue out. She wants it real bad.

I got bangs. The jury is still out on whether I like them or not. Alright. Wells that's all for now! Lots of love.