update

Well, the dad is doing well. He stayed in the hospital for one night and that was enough. Many tests were run and all came back normal. Probably just overexerted himself and got a little stressed with the whole work thing on Monday (aka laying off the majority of workers in AZ). I decided to be a good daughter and go visit my parentals in the hospital on my lunch break yesterday (and to deliver lunch to my mother). The minute I got up the elevator to the floor they were staying on my mother called to tell me that they were being discharged. Figures. So we ate lunch and then walked out of the hospital all together. I am glad he is doing ok and I hope he continues to do ok. Thanks again for all of your well wishes. If you could continue to keep him in your prayers that would be great. And while you are praying for him, throw in the name Nikki from the UK as well. I just got some sad news about her (she is a friend of my friend in the UK). She is battling breast cancer, has 2 small children (one is special needs) and her husband decided he could not handle the situation so got out of it. She could definitely use a little Divine help for sure! Thanks blogging friends! Have a great week and I will be posting my Halloween pics soon...

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So, my dad is back in the hospital again. I guess traveling was not such a good idea...

October happenings

Well, October was one of the craziest months I have had in quite a while. It was just full of things...and I am grateful for that. I much prefer being busy than having time on my hands because time equals thinking, and sometimes it's better if I just don't think. But it's been a fun month (for the most part). The month started with the the upsetting news of my father's open heart surgery. I am happy to report that he is doing ok and my parents actually came home to Arizona this weekend (for a few days). It has been really good to see them. Believe it or not, I kind of missed having them around...

For some reason our Branch decided to have our Halloween party the second week of October. Not many people showed up, which was sad, but it was still fun to dress up and see everyone's costumes. We had some spaghetti and then carved pumpkins. I am not much of an artist, so I simply chose to take pictures of my group carving our pumpkin. Here is Tricia the Jailbird, Sandy the Autumn, and Jenna the Fairy carving away:


Oh, yes...here is my costume. I was a very big, very unattractive baby:

And this was by far my favorite costume of the night:

Of course, this is the real reason I liked the costume so much:

Again, Tricia the Jailbird poses with Tommy the Forrest Gump:

And who could forget Super Andy:

All in all it was a pretty fun party. But then again, I am kind of a Halloween freak! Any excuse to dress up as a clown and not get strange looks is a good time for me! Here I am in one final picture with my new best pals Tricia and Sandy:


Later on in the month I threw a bridal shower for my best gal pal in AZ named Sarah. She is getting married on November 13th and I am really excited for her (and possibly a touch jealous). The shower was a lot of work (but that is just because I don't know how to throw simple, low-key parties) but completely worth it! I rearranged some furniture, blew up some balloons, hung up some decorations...

..and made a lot of food:

It seems these days that bridal showers are just come-and-go, eat some food, open some presents and that is pretty much all there is to it. However, I am a firm believer in throwing a big party with games and prizes! Being the overachiever that I am, I made sure all of the game pieces were easily accessible in a cute little carrying case:

Just a warning, my camera has been sick lately (I think it's the swine flu), so most of my pictures turned out blurry...which is unfortunate because the pictures could have been cute...

Speaking of cute, here is the cute little bride-to-be, Sarah, sportin' her "Bachelorette" sash and glowing engagement ring:

Because of blurry pictures, you don't get to enjoy the pictures of our game and prize winning fun. We played the Wedded Bliss Word Search (Kenny and Sarah's wedding themed), Who's Got the Garter Belt? (the title sounds horrible...but I don't know what else to call it), Who Knows Sarah?, and Wedding Gift Bingo. I think the games were fun...but I could be totally wrong. And, of course, we watched Sarah open some gifts:

I was really hoping for some embarrassing lingerie, but she mostly got games and house decorations. I did give her some zebra print pajamas though. I am so excited for Sarah and so happy that I could throw the shower for her. She is AMAZING!!!

And finally, October is not complete without a Halloween celebration. Tricia, Sandy and I did throw a fun Halloween party, but those pictures are just going to have to wait for another day. There are only so many pictures you can post in one blog entry...

update

So, I went to my Facebook friend's profile (not sure why I didn't think of that before)...

Yeah. He's married. And has a baby. So much for that happy idea...

Oh, and I must know him from my old singles ward 'cause he is friends with all of the people in that ward.

Just thought I would update you.

Facebook

I am addicted to Facebook...and it sucks! All day long I check my farm in Farmville to see if my animals need tended to or if my plants need harvested. It is a sickness and I would highly recommend avoiding Farmville if at all possible.

But this is my concern: I have some friends on Facebook that I don't really know or even know how they became my friend. There is this one guy who I am assuming was in my singles ward or possibly even went to high school with me...but I have no clue! We are now neighbors in Farmville, and he keeps sending me presents for my farm. I am not complaining, I love free gifts. But he keeps sending me date trees... SEVERAL of them... What does this mean??

I am in heaven...

Cereal heaven, that is!

You see, I have become quite the bargain hunter. A few weeks ago I discovered the pure bliss that comes from looking at the grocery ads that come in the mail every week. Normally I shop at good old Walmart because I am a poor, tightwad and feel like I can only get good deals at that store. But then the month of October rolled around and I realized that all stores had good deals on pink things due to Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I opened my Fry's (aka Smiths in UT) ad and found some really good deals on pink cakes and pink M&Ms to use for my friends' bridal shower... and I have been obsessed with Fry's ads ever since! So imagine my excitement when I opened the ad last week to see that Honey Bunches of Oats (the world's MOST AMAZING cereal) was on sale for $1.57 each when you bought 4 of them!!! I was thrilled!!!

But because I have been a crazy, busy girl the last week or so, I never had time to go to the store. After completing jury duty yesterday (another post, another day) I decided it would be a good idea to stop at the store since the sale ends today. I walked down the cereal aisle only to see empty shelves where the Honey Bunches of Oats were. I was CRUSHED!!! My world stopped turning. I was physically pained. I called my mom because I didn't know what else to do.

But don't worry...I went to another Fry's today on my lunch break...and they had LOTS of Honey Bunches of Oats on their shelves. So I bought 8 of them.

I am a freak, I know. But when something as simple as cereal can make me so happy, I am going to indulge. And I am a very happy girl right now!

a long time coming...

A lot has definitely happened the last little while, but I have barely had time to breathe, let alone blog. So here is my super fast post about something that happened quite a while ago. And just a warning, this blog requires a bit of cooperation on your part. I expect you to participate!!!

I have this dear friend named Sarah. She is awesome! However, she is engaged...so we don't really hang out. EVER. In fact, I am planning a bridal shower for her this weekend which is a lot of the reason I have been so busy lately. But I still love her dearly and consider her one of my best gals. One day, out of the blue, she called me with a proposition. She asked if I would like to accompany her and her family to a Diamondbacks game, because her sister was in a group that was singing the National Anthem and they had an extra ticket. I jumped at the chance...I mean, hanging out with Sarah is a rare treasure these days. So to the game we went. Our seats were great:We were upclose and personal to the action, which was nice.

The game, however, was not so great. The highlight of the game was definitely this:...the fireworks AFTER the game...

Because, as you will see below, not much happened during the game:Those are all zeros my friends...

But, you know me, I always find a way to entertain myself. I decided to do a little husband searching while at the game and the choices below are what I found:

An older gentleman, probably well off and settled into life...complete with horseshoe hair and ponytail.

The pornstache. Need I say more??

And this fine gentleman...

So, this is where your participation comes in. I would like your opinion. Who do YOU think is my perfect match?? Leave me a comment and let me know. I am curious...

And you can pretty much bet I just booked myself a ticket to hell for posting this. But I wouldn't be surprised if some guy took my picture at the game and did the same thing on his blog. It's all in good fun, right?? I really do love all of God's creatures...

Coming soon...the Branch Halloween party (can't post about it yet 'cause I can't reveal my costume when my co-workers haven't seen it yet), Sarah's bridal shower, MY Halloween party, and possibly some other things. Stay tuned.