Picnic Date

I have a great husband. Last week, we had made tentative plans to go camping over the weekend, but because of lack of planning, plans did not work out. I was pretty sad. Ok, really sad. But James made it all better by suggesting we make a picnic and enjoy the great outdoors in a different way. So we made my favorite sandwiches (recipe below); packed some cream soda, candy, and fruit in a bag; and headed out to feed the ducks. After the picnicking and duck feeding, we went to Savers (love that store) and got a real picnic basket (happy day), and then saw the X-Files movie at the dollar theater. Decent movie. Not the best, but it was nice to see Scully and Mulder together and have them chasing the baddies again. Not quite as satisfying as my favorite episodes, though.




Charity's Awesome Sandwiches
First, cut your bread (best if you use a roll or french bread or something else yummy)
Then, put your choice of cheese on one side of the bread (I like havarti, monterey jack, or provolone)
Put both sides in the toaster oven until nice and toasty and the cheese is melted
Spread cream cheese on the side without the melted cheese
Then add your meats and veggies. I like turkey and ham with tomatoes, lettuce, onions and avocado. The avocado is not optional -it's that and the cream cheese that really make the sandwich. Anyway, enjoy!

P.s. I stopped washing my hair with baking soda as of today. As you can see in the picture above, it really hasn't been working - it leaves my hair limp and greasy looking. It worked for about two days, and I stuck with it for about two weeks. How's that for perseverance? Oh well, back to VO5.

Awesome Video

I don't know how this ended up in my inbox, but watching this video totally uplifted me today. And he's a member of the church! What a cool guy!

If you can't see it, check out this link: http://www.livestrong.com/contest/youtube-share-your-story/

New Baby - Newman Baby!

Sunday we got a call from our good friends Klarissa and Chris Newman, telling us they had had their baby boy and if we wanted to see him before they moved to California, we had to go now! So of course we did. It was so great to meet little Zackary Christopher Newman. He was 8 pounds 7 ounces when he was born and is just the adorablest little thing. Yes, adorablest. But all babies are, I suppose. Here are some pictures we took:

Me, delighted to be holding Zackary.

Shelly, practicing for her own baby boy, coming in January.


The happy family.

The gang, all together, for the last time in a little while.

Cascade Springs

Since we had paid the six-dollar access fee to go up Alpine Loop on Saturday for the hike, we decided to take advantage of at least two of the three days and go up again on Sunday for a nature walk. We have been wanting to go to Cascade Springs for a while, since that's where James was going to propose to me and then couldn't because the road was closed (we went to Stewart Falls instead and it was perfect). So, we took our happy little pass and went up Provo canyon. I was thrilled again, of course, to see all the fall colors and my beautiful mountains. Doesn't everyone just want to move to Utah and live with me here? Yes, you do. Good.

The drive was beautiful and then the little walk was just gorgeous- it's not a hike or anything, just a walk on a paved path around the springs - little bridges and everything. And the neatest part? There were little plaques all over the place telling neat information about the springs, the wildlife, and the different plants. Very educational.

Here are some of the pictures:

The Rest of the Weekend: Football Game

Still trying to catch up on this weekend (it was really busy!). So here's my rundown of the football game. We had an extra ticket (a friend decided to see his girlfriend instead of go to the game, where's the dedication?) so we invited our friend and neighbor Duane. It was a blast, again. If you haven't seen the score yet, it was another blowout 44-0. Not quite as exciting as the UCLA game, which was just insane, but definitely very awesome. We had some incredible turnovers and an awesome pass to Austin Collie that totally took my breath away, so it did have its moments. Poor Wyoming. We started to feel so bad for them. At least they didn't have as many players dragged off the field as the other teams we've played recently. Incidentally, the last time the Cougars had two shutouts in a row was in 1985 - and the scores were the same (59-0 and 44-0). Hopefully we'll surpass history and do it again at Utah State! There has really only been one disappointment so far this season - they aren't selling kettle corn in the stadium anymore! At least I can't find it if they are. Anyone know anything about that? I really miss it.

This is the only picture I took at the game (sadly). James and Duane with his homemade sun guard.

Timponeke Trail

Saturday morning, we were supposed to go hiking with some of the West family, but because of lack of communication (we never told them for sure we were coming), and lack of getting-up-on-timeness (that was totally me), they left without us. So, we made a few calls to figure out where everyone had gone and made a valiant effort to catch up with them, but sadly did not. Happily, though, we still went hiking and had a good time. I was absolutely ecstatic to be up in the canyon in the cool (though still not really crisp) fall air, looking at all the beautiful fall colors. We only got to hike for about an hour, cuz we had to leave in time to make it to the football game. Here are the pictures:

Me and Allison beginning the hike.

James and Allison (really thinking "Can't we just hike? Stop taking pictures!)

Allison kindly obliging my picture-taking obsession by posing with the pretty red berries.

Trees! Lovely trees!

The very pretty mountain. Ah, I was so happy.

Me, being very happy.


James, beating up on poor, defenseless Allison.


Now he's pretending to be all sweet. (His eyes are closed because his evil wife made him put on sunscreen and it got in his eyes. Poor James.)

Me and my awesome sister-in-law. I am so lucky, I have the greatest family ever - the one I was born with, the one I married into, and the one I got by my brother's marriage (love you, Jen!)


Happy hikers.


One more shot of the beautiful view.

Cats!

And we all say,
Oh! Well I never! Was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees

James and I have been singing this song all weekend, and all thanks to my wonderful, magical, clever, amazing Mom, who so kindly bought us tickets to go see Cats at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake.

When I was little, my best friend Caity Clement and I would listen to the Cats soundtrack over and over and then subject anyone and everyone we could find to our painstakingly choreographed performances of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser, Macavity the Mystery Cat, and, of course, Memories. Her poor parents. They were the ones who got forced to watch us the most.

This experience with Cats, though, just made me all the more excited to go see it and it was just as fun watching it as it was all those years ago skipping around to the music in Caity Clements basement. Thanks, Mom! You are the best!

Here's me and James at the theater, getting all ready for the show.

Here's me with the Cats sign. Not the greatest picture ever, but I wanted to show off my dress. I made it out of a pair of men's slacks I got at Savers for a dollar, just a few hours before we left for the theater. You can't see the whole thing (there's lace on the bottom) but what do you think?

And here's studly, handsome James with his new haircut (thanks, Elliot!)

Tailgate Party

Friday we had a stake tailgate party and had a blast hanging out with our neighbors Maren and Duane Tucker and their awesome son Evan, and with our friends Dave and Sara Brunner. We have their son, Eli, in nursery with us, and he is always entertaining. He has recently taken to asking "Why?" to everything you say. We've figured out, though, that if you answer him a few times, then on like the third "why?" if you just say "Because" he stops asking for a bit.

Here's Maren, Duane, and James holding Evan
(doesn't that kid have the greatest hair?)

James with Evan again

Dave and Sara with Ethan
And here's Eli - he's the one in the blue shirt (the little one, that is)

It was a really fun activity, and we are really glad the stake put it on. Really good food and a fun time to just hang out. We missed most of the games, cuz we had to leave to go to Cats! (more on that in another post.)

Oh the Places I've Been

Stole this from Jessica's blog. Here are the maps of the United States and the world, showing the places I have been. Looks kinda sad the more I look at it. So much more traveling to do!


visited 20 states (40%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president


visited 17 states (7.55%)
Create your own visited map of The World or determine the next president

*edit. Oh yeah! I forgot I did spend five hours of my life in a Wyoming gas station. Add Wyoming to that first map. Thanks for reminding me, Christian (Jen?).

Wish List

I want one of these - anyone have bookshelves lying around you don't want? I'll take em off your hands and make my awesome craft space! :)

My Current State

Just the right combination of maniacal, frustrated, tired, and giddy.

News at the West Home

So, James and I are just a little bit giddy about our new living room arrangement. It makes us happy in a very silly way. Since we have ghetto couches and I have no talent at decorating whatsoever, when James suggested we should make stadium seating in our living room, I was all for it. Below you see the pictures of our living room in all its glory. Please ignore the laundry on the chair and the crooked pictures. I really stink at decorating. But pay close attention to the fact that the couch in the back is in fact higher than the couch in front. Ta da! Stadium seating a la cinder blocks. It actually makes movie-watching a very enjoyable experience (also, the game was awesome like this). We added the ottomans on Saturday thanks to a friend's garage sale, and voila - seating and foot-restability for everyone.



In other news, and this is about to sound very vain of me, check out my hair!
See how it curls under? How smooth it looks? How it did exactly what I wanted it to? Ok, all this bragging has a purpose. I am about to let you in on a secret. Baking soda. That's right, just the kind you use to bake with... and sometimes clean out a drain or deodorize the trash can. You can also mix two tbsp of baking soda with a cup of water and wash your hair with it for a greener solution. And, I don't know how well it works for others who have tried it, but it makes my hair obey. And for that, I am a believer. Try it!

Pics from BYU vs N.Iowa

Our seats are way up in the North side of the East bleachers... if that makes sense. But we like them a lot. We can see the whole field and have a good view of all the goings-on. We are sitting with Allison and Jordan this year, which is a ton of fun. I am working on my Cougars jean quilt and am pretty excited about taking it along once the weather gets cold (that game was not cold by the way - I got a shoe tan!). GO Cougs!

Happy Birthday Jordan

Here is a picture of the cake we made for our friend Jordan's 24th birthday. We may have transferred some of our own BYU football craze to Jordan, but he loved it anyway. Actually, what we had planned was a little better - Jordan had wanted to watch Batman as his party activity so he asked us to make a Batman cake. Our evil but brilliant but evil plan was to make the carebear cake with the Batman symbol on his cute little tummy. But then Jordan changed his mind about watching Batman and decided to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (awesome movie by the way), and having no Turtle cake pan, we went with this:

Love for Harvey

I love all our BYU players, but this is the one I want to name my child after someday. Little Harvey Bronco. Or Bronco Harvey. We haven't decided. Watching the BYU-Washington game on Saturday, the overall feeling I had was one of extreme nerves and seriously feeling sick to my stomach. It was just too close. But every time they gave the ball to Harvey, my heart just soared. I love that kid. Also Pitta, that guy is just fun to watch. For those of you who didn't watch the game and haven't yet heard, BYU won 28 - 27. Thank you very much, Cougs, for making my day. Never doubted you for a second.

*edit* I thought about it some more, and it really wouldn't be right to post about Saturday's game without giving major kudos (chocolate chip or peanutbutter, whichever he likes better) to Jan Jorgensen, or as James calls him, Jorgy or The Filthy Swede (though his name is spellt the Danish way, I'm going to claim him as a Dane. The Dirty Dane). Thank you, Jorgy, for blocking the kick when it counted. That stupid call has robbed you of a bit of glory - YOU made the block, BYU won the game.

Happy News

We are happy to welcome yet another baby into the family -

Bella Ruth West

,

born to Chauncey and Melanie West on September 2 at 10:15 am

6 pounds 6 ounces

Beautiful!