Book Blog

My sister and I talk about what we are reading often during our (almost) daily conversations. Sadly, we happen to live thousands of miles away from each other, so we can't share books the conventional way. After months of talking about it and even more months putting it together, we decided to create a book review blog, mainly to save on phone bills. If you are interested, you can find Bookshelf to Bookshelf here. Right now, there are only three books on there and they all happen to be books that I loved, but don't judge us, we will put more on.

Hopefully you enjoy it! Please tell us if you have any suggestions or anything, we will surely welcome them.

The Big D

Last weekend, we went down to the Big D (aka Dallas) to go to the Utah v. TCU game. We stayed with my brother, Mark, and his cute family. We just so happened to be there for our niece Abby's 6th birthday. On Friday night, we helped Jenny with the birthday party and it was a real treat. Abby had 13 little friends over for her party and they were all so cute and energetic, emphasis on the energetic. Ryan was the only boy in the house for most of the party with 18 girls, brave guy! The party was a sleepover party...but the girls didn't really sleep over so they just came in their pajamas, ate breakfast for dinner, made build a bear stuffed animals and played games. It was really fun to be there!

On Saturday morning, Ryan and I went into Fort Worth for College Gameday that came for the game. I think I only saw about 10 Utah fans there but the TCU fans were pretty nice to us for the most part. We met up with our good friends, Ezra and Shannon, who are big TCU fans. It was so fun to see them again since they moved away from DC. Ezra even stuck up for us when some TCU fan got mad at us for being there (he was drunk though so he wasn't too hard to get rid of...) Yep, there were a lot of people there that were drunk, and it was only about 9:00 a.m. Ah, good times.

Shannon and me (take note of the TCU Horned Frog's hand sign...so weird...)

Ryan and Ezra

Ryan hung the Utah flag over the crowds...he was not popular. Oh well. GO UTES!

College Gameday

Ryan wanted to put the Ute flag on the horned frog mascot...a TCU fan offered to take our picture and then felt a little guilty for actually taking it. We appreciated it though.

My brother Troy flew in for the game too and it was fun to see him. Troy, Mark, Ryan and I headed into the game and met up with our other friends that came in for the game from DC. The Utes were slaughtered in the game and we were shown why TCU really is the better team this y ear. Even though we got killed, we still had a lot of fun and we are really glad we went! TCU just better represent the Mountain West Conference well in a bowl game!

Before the game as you can see by our smiles

TCU completely sold out their stadium and it was a big deal. Then we realized why they sold out...they bussed in a TON of kids for the game. And they all sat behind us. I gave glares to a few of them as they flipped coins at my head and threw popcorn on people. Here are all the buses waiting to pick people up after the game. We found it humorous!

Really, the best part of the trip was seeing these three adorable little nieces of ours...

Molly

Lydia

Abby

Thanks Mark & Jenny for letting us stay with you!!!

Other updates and Halloween

A couple of Saturdays ago, I ran my 5k that I talked about a few posts back. I will use the word "ran" loosely, however. I was still a little bit off because of my food poisoning episode and the terrain was a bit more hilly than I expected. However, I finished. And I got a better time than my last 5k, which was not hard to beat since my sis and I walked almost the entire thing. The weather was spectacular and the scenery was well worth it. I stole this picture off of my co-worker Missy's blog (thanks Missy!) because her husband cheered us on and took pictures. There is a great one of Ryan right before he tripped that I will have to get from Missy. :)

Me, Missy, Tilly

As for exciting news...Ryan and I purchased our tickets to go and see my parents in Argentina for Christmas and we are thrilled. We get to see my fabulous and cute parents, tour their mission, and hopefully see some penguins up close since we hear that they wander around a lot down there. It will be a perfect Christmas! I have never been to South America and I cannot wait for December to come.

The cute parentals that I will get to see soon!!

For another drastic change of subject, last night we went to a really fun Halloween party that some of our friends organized. I dressed as a flapper and Ryan dressed as a mobster. Our good friends Mandy and Trent joined us and we were so happy to get to hang out with them! They dressed as Princess Peach and Mario and it was fabulous! Thanks to Mandy for providing the essentials for our costumes!!

Our friends had some fabulous costumes and we had so much fun at the party. My favorite costume was our friend Allison who dressed as Octomom. She carried 8 dolls around and it was awesome! Her husband dressed as TMZ reporter...it was the most inventive idea and I loved it!

Here is a picture of some of the ladies and then some of the guys. Thanks everyone for the party!!

San Diego

At the beginning of October (yep, it takes me awhile to blog), my sister and I met up in San Diego for a long weekend girls trip. We had a fabulous time and it was great to spend time together, especially in a location such as San Diego! Both of our hubbies thought we were crazy because we spent a significant amount of time hanging out in our hotel room watching movies. Megs and I are a lot alike so it was a very easy going vacation because we were both content to read or watch a movie after a leisurely day of seeing a few sites, eating a lot of food and shopping.

I left DC really early on Friday morning and I was supposed to arrive at the same time as Megs, who was coming from Utah. I was not so fortunate and got stuck in Memphis for 6 long hours because the plane we were supposed to have ran out of fuel and had to divert to Nashville. Then a huge storm hit and no one could get out in the weather. However, there was a high speed police chase going on in Texas that kept our terminal captivated. Delta should be very grateful that there was an entertaining police chase going on because people cared more about the police chase than yelling at the gate attendant. Oh well, I was entertained.

I finally got to San Diego and Megs picked me up from the airport and we immediately went to In and Out for dinner. Everything was all better after that...In and Out does that to people. Outside of In and Out, we saw this interesting van:

Do you really need a divorce that fast? I wonder if they run their office out of the van?

Then we went shopping (round 1 of 3, or maybe 4, possibly 5, I can't remember). Megs is having her 2nd baby in December and so we went into a couple maternity stores. I discovered that they had a fake belly in the dressing room. I was curious what I would look like so I tried it on and Megs took a picture. Pretty sure the ladies in the store thought we were crazy but whatever.

On Saturday, we went to the San Diego temple. What a beautiful place!

Then we went shopping. Again. I got this very cute wallet that I am still excited about almost a month later.


Then we went and got pedicures.


On Sunday, we went to church and then we wandered around Balboa Park.

Sometimes, it takes way too much effort to look cute.

After that we went and ate AMAZING Mexican food. Wow is really all that I can say. I miss having good Mexican food because it just really isn't the same out here.

On Monday, we went and saw a movie, went to the beach, went to the mall, and ate more food.

This was priceless...cute maternity picture thwarted by cold ocean water...

On Tuesday, we had to go home and say goodbye to each other until Thanksgiving. It was so fun to spend time with my sis, she is fabulous. Next year we hope to convince our husbands to let us do another trip and to hopefully plan it when all three of our sisters-in-law can join us too! We missed you Jamie, Andrea and Jenny. Next year we want all of you to come!! Thanks Megs for coming, I heart you.

Sickness

I very rarely venture into this type of a blog entry, but I feel like in order to give Ryan full credit for his wonderfulness, I should blog. I am the first to admit that marriage can be really hard and Ryan and I do not always see eye to eye. But there are a lot of times that things happen that remind me why I am so blessed to have Ryan and make the frustrating moments worth it.

Here is the bottom line, having someone there when I am sick is the best thing ever. I got what I think was food poisoning on Sunday night and I felt like death. I threw up A LOT, I mean around 20 times or so in about 18 hours. I was so incredibly sick. I was praying for any type of relief. Ryan slept on the couch since, let's be honest, who wants to sleep next to someone that throws up every 45 minutes? (Sorry if that is too graphic for some...) But, almost every single time that I went into the bathroom, Ryan would get up from the couch and come to the doorway of the bathroom. He would ask if I was okay, ask if he could do anything and then tell me how sorry he was that I was so sick. Now that is exactly what I need. I need sympathy. When we were first married, he did not understand this very well, but he definitely gets it now and he is fabulous.

He was so sweet to me the next day when I was alternating between asking him to do something for me (he was kind of like a house elf), throwing up, and stressing about how I was missing work the day before a huge conference that I have spent months planning and detailing out. He joked with me to make me smile and felt my forehead for a fever as I lay in fetal position suffering from extreme stomach pains.

Ryan is amazing and I love him dearly. My mom used to be the one taking care of me and I thought that there was no way that a man could ever do as good of a job as a mom taking care of her child. I have to admit, I was wrong. Ryan did a great job and was very compassionate. I think I picked a winner. :) So Mom, while we live far away from each other and you can only commiserate over the phone, don't worry...Ryan takes great care of me.

I am still on the mend but I did make it to work for the big conference, which was a huge blessing in and of itself. Thank you Ryan for being so great, you are a rock star.

Recipe for donuts

A couple of folks have asked for the donut recipe. My friend, Britni, found the donut recipe here. It was very delicious!! Enjoy!

Girls Night

Last Saturday night, a bunch of my girl friends got together while our husbands attended Priesthood Session. Here is what we did...

Made homemade donuts! Britni made delicious dough and glaze and we had fun making the donuts...and eating them. A LOT of them. Thanks to Katie, we have amazing pictures of our adventure.

I think this is number 4. Or maybe 5?

We also played Rock Band while we were making the donuts. I want a Wii and I want this game. I LOVE it. I may not be great at it, but I still have a lot of fun playing. If I only had one, I am sure I could be a real rock star because I could practice all the time. If anyone wants to buy me a gift, this is what I want. :)

Darcee, me, and Lacey rocking out

Michelle and Katie being cool. Britni is just to the right out of the picture...sorry Brit...

Then the guys got home and we played our favorite game that we play almost every time we all get together. The game is called Crud and it involves a pool table and two pool balls. It is highly entertaining and I generally laugh so hard that my stomach hurts.

It was a very fun night and I am really grateful to have met such awesome people since we moved to our new apartment! Thanks Brit for having us over and letting us make a serious mess in your kitchen!!

Running - A love/hate relationship

I signed up for a 5k with some friends and I am excited yet nervous. You see, I hate running. I want to love it, I really do, but I don't. I like how I feel after I run and I really like being outside when I am working out. But every step I run, I wonder how many steps I have to take before I am done.

The thing that made me sign up for this 5k was the picture you see above. This was taken at one of the past races. How could I not sign up? Look at those leaves!! I am going to run it and I am determined to push myself.

So here is my major dilemma, and I need advice. For anyone that runs or anyone that has any suggestions...I need something to distract my mind while I am running. Yesterday, I tried to name all 50 states in alphabetical order but got bored around Iowa. I tried to name all of the LDS prophets in order and got lost (I can never remember the order) about halfway through. I tried thinking about all of the things I was planning on making for meals in the next week. I NEED a distraction from the task at hand. Any suggestions?

On another note, last weekend I went with a couple friends to the National Book Festival that is put on by the Library of Congress. It was really fun to walk around and listen in on a few authors speaking and there were also a lot of famous authors there signing books. The lines were insane though so we didn't participate in that. For example, there were over 500 people in line for Nicholas Sparks.

I did however take a picture with the Target dog. He was very cute and well behaved!!

Me, Target Dog, Darcee

Fall is here!!

Fall is probably my favorite season. I love the smells and sights of fall...it makes me smile just thinking about it. Last Saturday, we went with a bunch of couples from our ward to go apple picking. The weather was amazing and we had a lot of fun picking apples and the guys had fun seeing how far they could throw them too. We came home with half a bushel...about 20-25 lbs of apples and only paid $10. Delicious and a steal of a deal.

Since we have more than I can even imagine eating, if anyone has any good recipes for applesauce or other apple dishes, please share!

Here are some pictures of the morning of fun at the apple orchard. Thanks to our friend Katie who took the pictures and graciously shared them!

Climbing up the tree for some better choices

Darcee is very sneaky...

The whole group

Britni, Me, Darcee and Ryan in the back

Aruba

We just returned from a fabulous Bessey family trip to Aruba. I loved it and I want to go back. There is nothing like laying on a beach with soft white sand and swimming in water so blue and clear that you can see your feet. The water was a perfect temperature to cool us off from the hot sun. The view was definitely not too shabby either! Ah, the beach makes me so relaxed and happy.

It was wonderful to be with the Bessey family and we had a ton of fun. Just the adults went this trip and the grandkids stayed home with their other grandparents. All of those with kids enjoyed a little break but we just enjoyed the time on the beach. :) Ryan's little brothers, Jacob and Cory, weren't able to come and we really missed them!

It was a very low key trip, which is exactly what I love. We ate a lot, laughed constantly, played a lot and relaxed a lot. Perfection!

There are so many pictures from the trip and all of our cameras that is hard to choose so if you didn't want to look at a lot of pictures of us in Aruba or hear about what we did, you can close the window out and I won't be offended. Consider yourself warned before you continue this long post. :)

This is the view we saw when we walked out of our room

This is the view from our patio

Ladies Karaoke Time

Guys Karaoke (plus some stranger that just jumped right in)

All of the Bessey Ladies

On the snorkeling boat. We went snorkeling in deep and shallow water.
In the deep water we saw a ship wreck which was both cool and super creepy. In
the shallow water we saw a lot of really cool fish and sea creatures!

Me and Ryan on the Snorkeling Boat

Isn't Ryan so strong?

Cami's baby was going crazy! She is due in just a few weeks!

Ryan showed me the very cool night feature on our camera...it looks awesome.
If you are wondering, there are lights by the bar making the sand purple.

The huts on the beach are great to read under and make for a great tropical ambiance

Sunset picture

Getting instructions on how to windsurf

Ryan was awesome as you can see

There he is again...

All of us bought swimsuits from the same place so Cami and I had
to take a matchy matchy pic. It is good to know I can wear my swimsuit
when I am 8 months pregnant if I want!

Mike and Ryan bought matching hats at the flea market. There are multiple ways to wear
the hat. Example 1: Ahoy Sailor Style

Example 2: Dorky Style (dorky facial expression required)

Example 3: Aussie Style -- my preferred style if I ever have a say.

Look we found our first house!! We are so proud!

Everyone on our bike ride

On our bike ride

Hanging out by the pool

So perfect.

My Merman...isn't he hot?

The builders of the Merman

Yay for Aruba!

Cool glasses - check. Soft serve ice cream - check.
We ate multiple ice cream cones each day and they never
got old. I actually really wish I could have one as I write this...

Our little friend Mike.
We decided at 1:00 a.m. one morning to dig a really big hole in the sand
so that we could stand all the way up in the hole. Mike did most of the work...
We hit water sooner than we wanted so we just buried
Mike's legs and called it good.

Thank you VERY VERY VERY much Mom and Dad Bessey for another awesome vacation! We miss everyone already!