I saw this squirrel up in a tree and as I put up my camera to take a picture, he looked right at the camera and gave me a nice "grin"! 
They turned out good, and I thought they looked pretty awesome all lined up on the tray! So, I thought I'd share some pictures for your viewing pleasure.... sorry I don't have the technology to allow you to taste them on here....
Yesterday, November 19th, was Steve's Birthday! I got him a racquet ball racquet, some new clothes, "The Sword in the Stone" on DVD (he says it's his favorite disney movie), and a new watch.
It was kind of funny because I bought Steve a watch for his birthday 4 years ago.... and yesterday, on his birthday, that watch was close to dead. We were waiting to see if it would break all the way through by the end of the day..... 
Now he has a new watch. He likes digital ones...that have the date and everything on the face. I thought this new blackish one looked nice for a digital watch. 
(I caught Steve practicing racquet ball... in the house..... not like he could really keep it a secret... the sound of the ball bouncing against the wall kind of gave him away....)
For dinner we had Steve's favorite--Thai Curry. We even got to use my cool dishes I bought at Pier 1 Imports. (I found a gift card that we had gotten for our wedding over 3 years ago.... figured I'd put it to use!).
Oh and in case you were wondering.... my dining room is now themed around those dishes.... notice the color of the walls.... and I hung dark brown curtains....
Anyway, Happy Birthday Steve! He is now 27 years old and smells like formaldehyde! Not because he's old, but because he now disects cadavers in anatomy lab......
Goodbye street where we live!
(I cheated, that picture wasn't actually taken that day....there weren't that many leaves left at that point...)
(The Zoo is very close to our neighborhood. Within walking distance. That bridge you see is the path connecting the two different sections of the zoo. Pretty cool.)
In Kentucky, the sun was out and the scenery was beautiful.
Nice to see some hills and a bit of dimension to the land.
.......and I was in Tennessee! Wow, drove across two entire states in 7 hours! Very cool.
Yippee! And my mom of course came on the trip with him. So, it was my job to entertain my mom while my dad was at the convention during the day.
And it wasn't hard! At a place like the Gaylord Opryland Resort, you can stay occupied for hours without even leaving the hotel! I mean, check this place out! Inside the hotel, under glass roofs are "nine acres of indoor gardens, cascading waterfalls and an indoor "river" with its own Delta flatboats." Seriously people.... very cool.
We had a great time just exploring the hotel and stuff. We ate at one of the six restauarants in the hotel and ordered fancy room service and watched movies and just... had fun!
....check out those flying pigs! (that's my dad in the blue coat walking under the sign)
On Monday my mom and I went and toured the Belle Meade Plantation. Kind of interesting to get a feel for life back in those days.... with the slaves and everything.... It was a neat historical site.
And here are my mom and I just being silly.
I had a great time with my parents. It will hold me over until I get to see them again at Christmas! We fly out the 21st of December. I can't believe the holidays are that close!
I was tagged by both Julie and Stephanie to tell 6 Quirks I have. I am finally going to finish up my list.... but just because I was tagged twice doesn't mean I have to do 12... right??
1) When I heat something up in the microwave, the time I set almost always ends in a 7. Instead of a minute, I usually do 77 seconds (which is probably most often used...). Never 30 seconds... it's 37..... or 57......... you get the idea. I have a slight obsessive compulsive behavior there....
2) Often when I'm listening to music, I find myself "leading" the music.... whether it be all out conducting, just a slight swing of the hand, or just a little wave of a few fingers. Often I even find that I am leading the beat with my foot. ........down, in, out, up, down, in, out, up......
3) I..... can NOT dance..... But, I have a little "jig" I do randomly..... its more just a little shuffle of the feet. Sometimes its like a victory dance, or an "I'm happy" dance. Very NOT cute.... you'll probably never see me do it.... unless you are Steve.... maybe my mom or sister.
4) I guess I am what my sibblings like to call a "food monitor." Ever since I was little, I was always keeping track of what everyone ate... "No, you can't eat another popsicle, you already had one!" "Didn't mom just buy these fruit snacks.... and they are already gone???" "Hey, I had 217 Skittles in this bag.... now there are only 216! Who ate one????" "Are you sure you want to take that much mashed potatoes? You're not going to eat it all...." Then as I got older, it evolved into not being able to stand seeing food get wasted.... When my family would go out to restaurants, I wouldn't order anything, because I knew without at doubt that everyone would order too much food, so I would just eat everyone else's "leftovers" or the stuff they didn't want on their plate (the vegetables off of Daniel's plate, the other half of the giant steak on Jordan's plate.....etc.) and, heck, by the end, I would get a sampler platter of all the meals and we wouldn't waste any food!!! My sibblings think I'm a "food monitor" and find it irritating I'm sure. My grandma is proud of my ways and applauds me for being so frugal and non-wasteful. :)
5) If food is intended to be hot, I would rather it be so hot that it burns my tongue than have it just luke warm. I also like my drinks very cold.
6) I love the windshield wipers.... but only if they work really well. There is just something so wonderful about having a splotchy dirty window... and then squirting that washer fluid and watching those wipers wipe it squeaky clean!!! I probably use my wipers way more often than is needed. Sometimes I even reach over while Steve is driving and squirt the fluid and wipe the window!! hahaha.... I'm sure it drives him crazy. But, it's not just windshield wipers.... I find the same joy in taking a paint roller and watching as my strokes change the wall from one color to another! Or how about when you have a dark carpet that is dirty, and you vacuum it..... ooohhh. ...yeah... love that..... watching as each stride makes a path of clean carpet! Wow... I am quite strange.....
7) Just kidding, not really doing any more. I just like the number 7......
Steve hates getting his hair cut... I pretty much have to force him (and his mom says he's been like that his whole life). He always says he wants long flowing hair.
Last Saturday, we took a trip to Kirtland, Ohio (about 2 1/2 hours away). The missionaries in our area were taking a trip there and taking investigators with them. Steve is a ward missionary, so we were invited as well. (I'm sure anyone was invited... but.. yeah... we went.) Anyway, it was a neat experience.
Kirtland was the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1831-1838. The Saints gathered there one year after the church was organized by Joseph Smith in Palmyra, New York. Anyway, it is a neat little historic place where many things from church history took place. The first temple was built here.
And it still stands today. It is now owned by the "Community of Christ" Church. But, we were able to take a tour inside and learn a bit about it.
There is a Historic Kirtland little town where there are some replicated buildings and also some originals still there. Newel K. Whitney's original store is still standing, and they have it restored to its 1830's condition.
It was so neat to go into this building-- to walk through the same exact door Joseph Smith walked through... to walk on the same floor board that Joseph Smith and several other well known early church members walked on........ to go upstairs and sit in the room where Joseph received several of the revelations now found in the Doctrine and Covenants...... to walk through rooms where Joseph and Emma lived for a while.... very cool.
It was also very beautiful there and all the fall leaves were amazing.
Speaking of cool leaves... this is a tree out in front of our house, right across the street....
Wow.... Quite red/orange! I love it.
Other events of the week.... hmm..... OH! I am still working at Shoe Carnival, but as of this week, I am now only working part-time! Hooray! So much nicer to not work 40 hours a week... I now only work Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, from 8:30 t0 5. So, no more nights (YAY! I used to work Monday and Wenesday until 9:30...yuck...) I am less stressed now and so much happier. Not that you'd think working at a shoe store would really be that stressful....but I dunno... some how I manage to stress myself out a bit too much. And right now, I am trying to eliminate added stress that seems to result in such side-effects as poor health and depression..... ANYWAY! Moving on.
This week, I got to babysit Madison twice (the baby from upstairs).
I brought out some "friends" for her to play with. It was good to see them getting some use, and Madison seems to enjoy them.
I am glad that Jenny and Jake let me play with her and watch her. It is so fun for me and lets me get a little taste of having a little one and being able to stay home with them.
