I can make an apple pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy

OK, so the one in the picture is not a cherry pie.  But I can actually make one of those too.  Thanks to the refrigerated Pillsbury pie crusts, I found out over Thanksgiving that I am not scared to make pies.  In fact, we made two--one for my birthday and one for the people that Chris home teachers--in less than an hour.  Way to go, us!  P.S.  I am also trying my hand at good picture taking, in anticipation of the neat-o camera that I am getting for Christmas.  What do you think?

Take THAT!!

This morning, I got ready for school, and needed to have Chris zip up the back of my shirt.  I thought nothing of it.  Then I went to school and had a super long day.  12 hours of a super long day.  The positive part was that I got to wear a new pair of boots, and that was fabulous.  Anyway, I got home from my super long day, and Chris was not home.  He was doing tithing settlement.  And I could not take off my shirt without his help.  Problem.  I called him and asked him when he was coming home.  Finally I couldn't stand it any more.  I had to cut my shirt off.  Good thing it only costed $3!

It's beginning to look a lot like Chris Rusch

Those are the words that Chris sings to the song.  We are more prepared than ever for Christmas this year!  And tonight, we set up our tree and Christmas decorations.  If we had a bigger place, we would put up more decorations, but this will have to do for now!  We listened to Pandora on my iPod touch while putting it all together--what a great night!

Our Thanksgiving

Our original plan was to enjoy a peaceful Thanksgiving celebration in Idaho Falls.  However, Chris's brother was admitted to the hospital, and his parents had to take an emergency flight to Utah from Atlanta, so we decided to be sociable and stay with the family that only comes here every now and then.  That meant, however, that I was IN CHARGE of our Thanksgiving dinner.  I did not sleep at all on the Sunday before, because I was so worried about it.  I was not really worried about cooking it all--I have seen my parents do that on several occasions.  I was worried about fitting SEVEN people in my little condo.  But, Chris's mom came early in the morning and helped me cook, and everything turned out fantastically!  Of course, we had plenty of help.  A BIG thanks goes out to Chris's mom for her help, and to our wonderful neighbors across the street who let us use their oven when we found that our smoker died.  We were supposed to get a blizzard on Tuesday, but didn't.  However, Tuesday wound up being a GREAT day to go to the grocery stores!  Matt is recovering well, and we were able to celebrate a GREAT Thanksgiving together.  On Friday night, we went to see the *brand new* lights on temple square.  Chris's parents were so excited about that, because they have never seen the lights there before.  It was a splendid time had by all, and we are so glad that we were able to spend it with family!  The picture of Chris and his brothers is by the center mark in Salt Lake that marks where all streets are measured from.  Thanks to Matt, the geography major, we learned about it.  Cool.

Eating like Pilgrims

I have wanted to do this for a few years, and we finally decided to swallow the price and do it.  We went to Thanksgiving Point to their Eat Like a Pilgrim celebration.  It was fantastic!  We got to try some fabulous Pilgrim dishes, such as Corn Pudding, and some not-so-fabulous Pilgrim dishes, such as Stewed Pumpkin.  The only utensils that we had was a knife and a spoon.  What a riot!  Chris got to fire the Pilgrim musket, which was tons of fun.  We sang a pilgrim song before eating, and said a Pilgrim prayer on the food.  Chris got to try oyster (I passed), and pet animals.  I got to enjoy talking with my friends that I went to Montana with last summer.  They were helping out with the extravaganza.  If anyone gets a chance to go in the future, I totally recommend it!  Next time, I will take my camera so that I have pictures to show for it!

Happy Halloween or Merry Christmas?

I feel that this is something worth blogging about.  For the first, and perhaps the only time, we have eachother's Christmas presents picked out and bought on Halloween.  You see, when you both have birthdays in December, you have to plan early for such occasions!
Last week, we went to Costco and saw the camera that I have been researching for several months there.  It came with everything--a case, a couple of extra lenses, an extra memory card, and 100 free photos from Costco.  So we bought it.
Chris has been researching computers for . . . about a week . . . okay, that is less time than I have been researching.  But he has been pretty serious about it.  He needs it for Grad School.  I bought it for him tonight.
So, right now, all we need to worry about is Christmas presents for our families and friends!  We are all taken care of!  Yippee!  What do you want?

Go cougars!

My parents came down to Provo for the football game.  They bought tickets for all of us, which was very nice.  Taylor and Katie came and brought their kids, which was a ton of fun!  The cougars won (which was kind of a surprise!), the weather was beautiful, and we got to play with some pretty cute kids too!  You should have seen Anna and Max's eyes when they looked at my BYU brownie--they looked like they had not been fed all day!  Here are a few pictures of the fun:

 

Anna and Max drawing during the game.  Katie pulled out a pad of princess paper, and told Anna that it was for her.  Anna said that she really hoped that it was!

 All of the family

 Playing with Charlie

 Anna looking through the binoculars

 Uncle Casey playing with Anna and Max

Grandpa giving Charlie a ride