Our Life Lately

I've severely neglected updating our blog these past few weeks, because things have been pretty busy.

I'm still working for Oberg Research (which I still love!) plus I picked up another job tutoring two elementary students twice a week. Jake has been busy finishing up the semester and is currently in the middle of his finals. Unfortunately, right as the finals period was starting he came down with a really nasty cold. He had a fever which finally broke at 6:45 the morning of his first final, and he has been coughing and miserable ever since. He's a trooper though, so he's been pushing his way through it. I'm proud of him for sticking it out!

We have managed to have a little bit of fun in the past few weeks. Our apartment is decorated for Christmas and it looks great. Here is a picture of our tree:


On the wall next to the tree there is a string with pieces of paper pinned to it. This was my attempt at making Jake's two weeks of finals a little more bearable. I wrote him a note (a really cheesy rhyming note) and wrapped up enough little presents for each day of the finals period. Every day he gets a little encouraging note and gets to pick a present to open. I also got a bigger present that he'll get to open once he's finished with his last final next Thursday.

Also, Jake's birthday was last week. Since it fell in the middle of finals (awesome, right?) we couldn't do much for it, but I did make him a meal I knew he'd love:

Hot wings and celery. It wasn't quite Willy's Wings, but it still made him happy.

Holly and Bryan's Wedding

A few weeks ago, I went out to Utah for Holly and Bryan's wedding. It was fun to spend a few days with my family.

Holly and Bryan got married in the Draper, UT temple.


I ended up not sewing Holly's dress like I had planned (we reduced everyone's stress levels by having her buy it), but I did do her hair.

Before:
After (ok, not the best after shot, but I forgot to take a better one):


Jake wasn't able to come out with me. Sad! Law school finals started the next week, so we figured it would be best for him to stay and work instead of coming out. We missed him though!

Me with my siblings outside the temple:


Holly and her bridesmaids at the reception:


Congratulations, Holly and Bryan!

Bryan and Holly

Congratulations, Bryan and Holly! Two and a half more weeks...


Photo courtesy of BraunInvitations.com

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.