French Toast Sticks

Mike and I have a tradition that on Sunday mornigs we have nice breakfast together (luckily our church has always been after 11 so we'll see if the tradition continues if we ever have 9am church). Anyways, today Mike asked me if I could make French Toast sticks. I've never made them, but I decided to try. Haha, it turned out to be an adventure....
Half of them ended up in a glass pan, stuck to the pan, and were a total disaster:( But the other half were on a cookie sheet and turned out perfectly:)

The moral of the story? Bake French Toast sticks on a cookie sheet, not in a glass pan and enjoy!

Kiara is throughly enjoying the fall weather! We were up in Denver this weekend and Kiara and her sister Elphie were "helping" my mom and I rake the leaves from the huge maple my parents have in their front yard. They were wrestling and having so much fun. I decided I needed a picture of how cute Kiara looked all covered in leaves. Silly dogs:)

Last weekend my dad got the whole family tickets to go see the Barnum and Bailey circus. I sware we were the only group of adults there without at least one toddler, but we had a blast! The show was great and we got snow cones in these really cool tiger cups (of course I forgot my camera). It's has been great to be so close to my parents. They let us stay over any time we want and Kiara loves to come visit Elphie all the time. Thanks mom and dad - we love you!

Garden of the Gods

Have I mentioned how beautiful Colorado Springs is and how much we love it here? The weather, the mountains, and everything about this city is beautiful! Last Saturday we decided to go explore the Garden of the Gods park that is only about 5 minutes away from our house. There are tons of huge red rocks that rise up out of no where. They are each unique and in the background you can see Pike's Peak. It's no wonder they call it Garden of the Gods. Here are some of the pictures....
Unfortunately my camera batteries died after these 2 pictures so this blog does not do it justice. But we will go back often for sure!

Called to Serve

Mike and I just accepted callings in our new ward as Ward Missionaries! And here I thought for sure that I would not be on a mission when I was 21;) Oh how plans change. We are very excited about it, and Mike has been really great about teaching me about missionary work. Since Preach My Gospel started shortly after Mike returned home from his mission, that part is new to both of us. For me at least, it's one of those callings that will force me to grow, but that's why we're here on earth:) Ever since my dad joined the chruch last year I have seen how much happier he is, and I cannot wait to share the message of the gospel with others and bring that joy to their lives. It will be a fun and challenging calling!

On Labor Day, Justine and I went camping. It was tons of fun. We went to Glenwood Springs at a campsite near the hotsprings on the Colorado River. We took the farmmutt with us and Kiara had lots of fun.

It started to rain some on our foil dinner, but it was quite adventurous. After dinner we went to the hotsprings and stayed for a few hours. It is a huge public bath. Very fun and a good experience.

We don't have any pictures of us swimming but enjoy the fire!!

Justine

Justine's not one to brag, but I will for her.

She left out one thing about graduation....she graduated Magna Cum Laude. :) Congrats to her!

NEW HOME (for the next year at least)

We found a place to live in Colorado Springs! After a month of looking online and spending a few days and long hours in Springs, we found our new home for the next year. We sign the leasing contract on Friday and then move in Saturday after running a 5k race for a Dakota Ridge High fund raising effort. What Mike likes most about this place is that it has a wood burning fireplace and it's more than double the size of our Salt Lake apartment for a few dollars more a month. Good deal!

We really are looking forward to our move and start life in Colorado Springs together. Justine comes home from BYU as a Graduate on Friday. Our first date night in two months. Congrats to Justine for graduating. We're all proud of you.

Elizabeth Gaskell

For those of you who don't know, I'm a shameless Jane Austin fan. I love all of her books and every move ever made relating to them. That said, I have just discovered Elizabeth Gaskell who was a contemporary of Jane Austin. In the past few weeks I've watched the movies North and South and Wives and Daughters which were based on her novels. I loved them! Needless to say, as soon as I'm done with school (one more week!) I will be reading the books. If you haven't heard of her but love Jane Austin, check her out!
Also, I found this on a friend's blog. It's really fun. My scores say I'm Elizabeth Bennet. See which Jane Austin character you're the most like.
http://www.strangegirl.com/emma/quiz.php

New Glasses (finally)

Well, I finally got a new pair of glasses. Hope they look alright. Costco frames are cheap. Hehe...I can actually see clearly now. I haven't had new frames for about a year, boy did I need them. I never knew how bad my vision was until I put on my new set of eyeballs. :) Whadya think???

The other day, Justine was going through some stuff at the house in Provo and she found something of mine. Its actually too small for me, but I didn't care because, well, I didn't care. But now that I think about it, it looks 100 times better on my good looking best friend. :)