Trunk-or-Treat

So far, fall in DC has been AMAZING. There are tons of tall trees so the colors are incredible, and the weather has stayed mild. No snow for us! Jake is starting to wish for snow, but overall we're absolutely loving the season.

Last weekend we went to our ward Halloween Party, complete with Trunk-or-Treating and a Chili Cookoff.

This is a picture of Jake and me in front of our decorated trunk. Jake is Dracula, I'm the road, and Paige is a speed bump.

This is Jake and Elder Laughran. Laughran is a missionary going home (to Australia) in 5 weeks, and is posing here in his patented "Last Transfer Pose."


My favorite part of the night:
A little boy dressed as Anakin Skywalker walked up to a slightly older boy dressed as Darth Vader and said: "Hi, future self!" I laughed so hard! In all honesty, I'm still giggling over it.

This is our chili entry. I had every intention of making chili, but that all fell apart. So, the card next to my crockpot reads "Yeah... It's Canned." Haha.


Happy Halloween-week Everyone!

Carmel Apples

While our husbands were taking their midterms the girls made carmel apples. We had some issues when we tried to melt the white chocolate, but other than it went really well. Plus they were delicious!


Below: Me, Tristen, Chelsey, Christen and Henry, Eve and Alex, Michelle and Gabbi. Teresa was taking the picture. There were three more kids running around that day who didn't want to hold still for the picture.

24 Weeks

24 Weeks!



This week I got a new job that I absolutely love! I'm working for Oberg Research -- a company that is hired to do audience research and evaluation in museums (my love and passion!). It's short term and I only work a couple of days a week, but I couldn't be more thrilled with it! Today while working I did several tasks that made me feel like I was back at the MPC doing assignments for one of my classes. It made me so happy and incredibly grateful for my previous training. Thank you Paul and the MPC!

Meanwhile, Jake is still slaving away at school. He has midterms next week (scary!) so he's just working hard. Go, Jake!!

Banana Bread

I had a request to post my banana bread recipe, so here it is!

*Note: This recipe doesn't double well. If you want to double it (which I usually do) mix up the batches of batter separately.

3 large ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1 egg
4 TBS butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Add nuts but they are optional

In bowl, mash bananas. Beat in sugar -- then egg and butter. In another bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking soda. Add to banana mixture and stir just until all flour is moistened.

Lightly grease a 9"x5" loaf pan. Pour batter into pan. Bake 55-60 minutes in a 325 degree oven.

OR use muffin tins. I like using muffin tins because it cooks much quicker, usually in about 20 minutes.