I Said Yes :-)

Cowboys and Indians and Afros, Oh My!

Me & my Cowboy :-)

Last night was our annual Halloween party.  We expanded this year and invited more people and planned some games and some prizes for best costume and best treat... but we mostly just ended up eating and talking and eating and watching a movie and eating some more.  I mean, we had a ton of food!  I wish I had gotten pictures of everything - the dessert table alone included finger cookies, witch hat cupcakes, eyeball and mummy cakeballs, pumpkin cookies, peanut butter cheesecake brownies, etc.  Here were my contributions to the party:

My mom and brother made this cheeseball for me

Saw this on Pinterest & had to make it!

And of course we dressed up!  Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of everyone, but here are a few that I did get...

David, Jen, & Jared

Lyndsey, Jenny, Candice, Andrea

Me & Savanah

Getting Paid to Blog

As you know, I started a new position at work a little over two months ago.  To be honest, it started out a little slow.  It was a brand new position, so I was trying to define what my position really was - it was my job to come up with my own work!  Well, things are really starting to pick up (I knew they would!)... A large project for which I am project manager is underway and I know things will get even crazier as we move forward.

Anyway, back to the topic of this post - I get to blog at work!!!  Yep, it's now officially part of my job.  In an all-OIT meeting, the question was asked of how we might keep the campus up-to-date on the status of the Campus Roadmap and the projects we are working on... and someone suggested a blog.  I was excited to take on this responsibility!  I have already posted a couple times, and will be blogging at least weekly with status updates and general interest topics.  So if one day you are super bored and want to see what I'm up to at work, you can get updated on our Roadmap website :-)

5 Year Celebration

BYP held its five year celebration last night... and it's crazy to think that I've been a part of it for three years now!  I have learned a lot, had some great opportunities come to me, and made so many great connections and friendships along the way.  I am looking forward to serving as Chair of the Community and Civic Involvement Work Team in 2012, and am excited to have Kimberly Graime serve with me as the Chair-Elect!  I know that we will have a successful year with well thought out and planned events.

Matt joined me at the gala last night.  He was a trooper because he hadn't been feeling well all day, but he wanted to support me by coming.  I'm bummed because we didn't get a good picture... thus the blurry picture below!  Matt looked so sharp in his suit, and I got tons of compliments on my Shabby Apple dress.  And thanks to Savanah for doing my hair (wish you could see it better in the picture!) - she always does an amazing job.

Pumpkin Carving

On Monday night, a few members of Matt's family came over and we carved pumpkins.  Kylee did not like when the "pumpkin guts" got on her hand, but she sure had fun carving. 

Kylee's grandma helped her out by holding the pumpkin while Kylee carved away

Matt helped his niece Olivia carve her pumpkin

Happy Pinning!

I heard about Pinterest several months ago.  I immediately thought it sounded cool which is why I didn't want anything to do with it.  Because I knew I would get addicted.  Well, a couple weeks ago, Brooke sent me an invite, and I decided to jump aboard... I have been pinning ever since.  I have basically been planning my future - places I want to visit, how I want my next home to look, recipes I want to try, things to do with my future kids, etc.  I mean, how could you not want to pin these pictures on one of your boards?

What a fun way to display children's artwork

This closet would be a dream

I'm sure this makes an already delicious breakfast food taste even better

GORGEOUS!!!

I am in love with this front porch

Trip to Venice anyone??

Fun at the Farmstead

I have decided that there are certain activities that are way more fun when you take kids.  Like going to the water park.  Or the fair.  On Monday, we decided to go to the Farmstead Corn Maze and Pumpkin Festival.  We didn't actually do the maze part, which is all I've really done over the last couple years at places like this.

Instead, we buried the Kylee and Olivia (Kylee's cousin) in the corn box.

And went on the cow train.

And took pony rides.

And played in the straw palace.

And went on a hay ride.

And more!

We had a great time!

Colorado Trip

I had the best weekend, so thought I would share all about it here :-)  A couple months ago, my friend Robin contacted me and asked if I would get tickets for the BSU/Colorado State football game for herself and her husband Roland.  I like to go to one away game each year, so I decided maybe I should join them.  I was super excited when Matt said he would come with me for the weekend, and I went ahead and bought the game tickets, booked flight and hotel, and patiently waited for this weekend to come.  I remember when we booked our trip that it seemed sooo far away!

It was a quick trip - we flew out early Saturday morning and came home late Sunday night, but we packed a lot in!  Matt is from Loveland, Colorado, so it was really special to see where he grew up.  We spent a lot of time Saturday morning driving around Matt's old stomping grounds.  Loveland is beautiful - set along the mountains, lots of trees, a couple big lakes in the middle of town, several parks, etc.  We saw the houses he grew up in, his neighborhood pool, his high school, the places he worked, etc.  We also went up to Estes Park (home of the Stanley Hotel), and "Little Estes Park" (it has another name, but that is what Matt called it!)... At Little Estes Park, we took a "secret trail" that Matt took when he was younger that led down to the river where he could skip rocks.  I could just imagine him as a little kid hanging out at this park :-)

Saturday afternoon was the football game!  It was great to connect and catch up with Robin & Roland.  We tailgated with them and some of their CSU friends, and then headed in to the game to watch Boise State whomp on Colorado State (final score of 63-13).

Roland, Robin, me, and Matt at the game

Sunday morning we went to church in Matt's old ward and then met up with several of Matt's friends that he grew up with.  It was fun listening to the guys laugh and laugh as they reminisced about the times they spent together.

Before we left, we had one more stop - the Benson Sculpture Garden.  I loved this place!  Each year there is a giant sculpture show and the park adds one (or more) additional sculptures permanently to the park.  Here are some of my favorites.  Matt and I had a little fun posing with some of the sculptures :-)

Ride 'em cowboy

Ring Around the Rosie

Where's Matt?

Make a wish!

The real title of this sculpture was "Best Friends" - I won't tell you what Matt thought it looked like :-)

I tried to get Matt to pose with this naked woman - he refused :-)

Haunted World

October means the real start of fall - colored leaves, pumpkin-flavored treats, and Halloween!  Last weekend, Jen, David, Matt & I decided to get into the spirit of things by going to the Haunted World.  Touted (at least on their own website) as the "largest haunted attraction in the Northwestern United States", we walked through about 30 acres of fields, tunnels, shacks, etc. with creepy ghouls and monsters lurking at every corner to scare us.  We all had a great time and decided to take our picture with this guy to remember our adventures.

Bronco Bike

When I transitioned to my new role six weeks ago (wow, has it already been six weeks!?), I was relocated to the Yanke Research Buliding, an office building off Park Center across from Red Robin.  It's a super nice facility, right on the greenbelt with parking right outside the front door.  There are also locker rooms with showers right in the building making it nice and convenient to go for a run on my lunch break or after work.  The Campus Roadmap Leadership Team is actually only here temporarily until we're moved back to some trailers on the main campus.  Needless to say, we're not in any hurry to move.

For those of you familiar with Boise, though, you will understand that this building on Park Center isn't right next to campus... so when we have meetings with people on the main campus (which is almost daily for me), we have to drive.  Well, we used to have to drive!  OIT invested in some cool cruiser bikes, had them painted in BSU colors, and gave them to us to use to get around.  Our project team has four of these bicycles.  I took one down the greenbelt to campus for a meeting this afternoon and it was great!  I just had to get used to a bike where I couldn't switch gears and I had to push backwards on the pedals to brake.  Flashback to 1987!  It was actually faster riding the bike down the greenbelt than it would have been for me to drive (especially with all the construction around here!), park my car, and get to my meeting.  Plus, I felt pretty neat riding my Bronco bike.  I'm just hoping now for a dry fall so I can continue to ride instead of drive!

Perfect Weekend

I mean, what could make a weekend better than cheering on my Boise State Broncos as they beat Nevada...

... and watching General Conference while eating conference crepes???