We finally got all our Christmas stuff put up. It took no time at all because we really don't have much. But I had to show off my Christmas banner my mother in law helped me do, and my Christmas tree that was decorated so cheap because of the economy this year, and my favorite reindeer poinsettia holder from my dad. Yea. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (minus snow).
We have been busy and loving it. Family all around and missionaries coming home. Jared's brother just got home from PA (picture of him coming off the airplane). Jared's happy face is when he saw Brock for the first time in two years. They are good buddies. Then about a week and a half after Brock got home we all got together in Saint George to play WII (pictured above), go to the temple, eat, make fun Christmas banners, and have some good ol' family pictures taken (jared in his handsome green shirt). We have had lots of fun lately and love this time of year that we get to hang out with friends and family.
We went to the local pumpkin walk this week. It was great. Every scene was made of pumpkins. My favorite one was the tribute to Michael Phelps. It's the one with the olympic rings in it and the swimmers racing. It was pretty funny.
The leaves have been dropping like crazy at our house. I told Jared when the wind stopped blowing we were going to rake some leaves and enjoy our last little bit of fall. When we woke up this morning it was 30 degrees and the heat had kicked on, so when we went out I thought we should bundle up some. So the top picture is what we started with. 
Then we went to this.
And then ended with this. I guess it warmed up a lot more then we expected. Turned out to be a beautiful day. I love this time of year. P.S. Jared was a great help with the yard work.
Here are our new curtains. My sweet mother-in-law worked very hard and sewed them for us. They look great in our house and now it really feels like home. Also, some pictures of Jared with birthday presents from his family and ready for the priesthood session of conference.
Jared's birthday week was full of activities. He got a present every day for 12 days up to his birthday. We had the annual tractor parade for the upcoming ag week at USU. On Wednesday (Jared's actual birthday) we met some friends in SLC to eat at Ruth's diner up Emigration canyon and then after lunch we hit the zoo. It was a perfect day and hopefully Jared had a good week, it was action packed.
Some of our great friends in Logan. They take good care of us and Julie (the one on the left) helped us get our new wheelchair and has kept us stocked up with garden vegetables this summer.
We went bowling with Blake and Savannah one night. Jared even has special equipment so he can bowl too, and he was beating us all until about frame 5. 
Happy as always to be with Blake and listen to some silly spanish.
Me at the hotel where my sister works. We are just ariving and getting ready to go have fun. I had to dress up to get a first class seat on the airplane. My first time in first class and I have to say it was pretty cool. My mom works for SkyWest so we can fly for cheap a few times a year. 
Getting a hug from my sister. She works hard, studies hard, and also plays hard (who wouldn't if they lived in San Diego). We got to stay for free at her hotel and it was very nice to have someone with us who knew what they were doing and where they were going. 
When I got to our room I found this birthday surprise. The room we had came with an extra room with bunkbeds and a seperate TV all for me. 
We all slept in the other room but not before making sure we took full advantage of jumping on the bunkbeds.
The pink badge I am wearing says "Birthday girl". I had to wear it all day. When we would go out random people would stop and say happy birthday and I always thought "how do they know" but then it would dawn on me that I was advertising it.
After we got settled into our hotel and had some food in our bellies we went to the temple. This is my sisters favorite temple and probably one of the reasons she moved there. We had a beautiful day and a wonderful feeling and cute couple missionaries to make sure our experience at the San Diego Temple was perfect. 
One of the themes for this trip could be: try to be as unprepared for a picture as possible. My mom kept snapping pictures when we didn't know it was coming. What is going on here? I have no idea. 
I do like this picture of my sister though. 
That night we went to a fun place downtown called the shout house. It is a place with a dueling piano show. When we were on our cruise about a year ago, one of our favorite things to do at night on the boat was the dueling pianos. So we went in memory of our fun on the cruise. This place got a little less family friendly as the night progressed so we didn't stay for the whole show but had a blast nonetheless.
Saturday morning we got up early so we could go eat at Richard Walker's. It is a well known little pancake house downtown San Diego. The place is pretty small so we had to wait in line for a little while but it was worth the wait. Our waiter was hilarious and the food was fantastic and quick. 
Here we are checking the menu before going in. I had banana pancakes with chocolate chips, real canadian bacon, and eggs. We all had freshly squeezed orange juice (which cost us $15.00 for the three) and plenty of food to take home for later.
We thought the placement of these starfish was so funny. We were in a pretty goofy mood (must have been the expensive OJ) and as we were taking these pictures people walking by were laughing and giving us more ideas for wild photos.
After breakfast we headed to coronado island. What a beautiful day it was. We checked out all the stores and then rented bikes and took about 1 1/2 hours ride around the island. It was one of the greatest things I have done in a long time. I love bike riding and we were in such a beautiful place with such great company (next time to make it perfect we will include Jared). 
To wrap up the day we stopped at the hotel del coronado and had some very tasty sorbet in warm homemade waffle cones. Thanks mom and kim for a great birthday surprise.
Today was our first home USU football game. Jared got all decked out in his aggie gear and we headed off to the stadium. It was a quick 5 min. walk and we arrived just in time to see USU score the first touchdown. The lead didn't last long and the University of Utah ended up smashing us. Still fun to go and be a part of it though. 
Maybe clapping? Excitement? All aggie wear. Looking good. 
Jared checking out the stadium. We have to sit at the very top and look down, way down. 
This is the play that resulted in a touchdown for USU.
Oh, beautiful picture. Here we are at the game. Good times.
Brock helped Jared one day tie his tie for church and how this happened I don't know. Brock?
Jared's one and only time in a regular sized bath tub. We were at my dads house and decided to try this approach to bathing. Jared didn't like it much, he kept hitting the soap holder with his hammer. He was so mad at it. We were laughing so hard. He just kept hitting it and hitting it. 
Jared and one of his best buddies. They were always laughing about something silly. 
Jared went through a phase with food clips. He loved to slide them up and down a yard stick. When he finally broke the stick this is what he came up with. We are at a good friends house having dinner and Jared was entertainment. Thank you Bro. & Sis. Johnson for always putting him in such a good creative mood. 
In honor of the duck bill. To our Nelson Family, this one is for you.
