Happy Halloween!

So I realize that Halloween was a long time ago, but get used to me-I blog when I make time and it's not very regularly. We actually had a couple of Halloween parties the weekend before Halloween (since we had Stake Conference and another church conference going on Halloween weekend, and we got to hear Elder Ballard speak!)

My roommates and I went together as a themed group last year, and we decided to do it again this year. We actually were out to dinner a couple weeks before, and ran our ideas by our waiter...he was a big supporter of our final decision-the US Double Dutch National Championship Team. And we are actually trying to learn double dutch, we haven't been practicing as much lately, but shhhhh....don't tell our competitors!

Ironically enough, our Double Dutch team uniforms got a little carried away, and we ended up being quite 80's. I basically like any reason to put on tons of make-up, particularly eye make-up, and to get to do crazy things with my hair. Here I am all decked out.Our ward had a Halloween party, which included a cupcake contest, and with the help of my savvy baking sister-in-law, Ruth, I totally won best overall cupcakes. My funny little spiders won cause overall they were best tasting and best looking. Go me!

I won a thing of Halloween sprinkles as my prize.

At the ward Halloween party, we played lots of fun, crazy games and even tied each other up like mummies. Here is my roommate, Alison, and I looking mummified.

And here are my roommates and I in our team shirts, we made them ourselves-complete with puffy paint...man I loved decorating with that stuff as a kid and I still do. We each had a Double Dutch team nickname, I was "Skip."

From left to right, it is Rachel, me, Amanda, and then Alison is laying across us. Aren't we the coolest jump roping team ever?Amanda, Rachel, our friend Janey, me and Alison at our first stop for the night, showing off our team spirit at some friends' Halloween party. After stopping by another Halloween party later on, we went to Friendly's to get some ice cream sundaes. And of course we were not in the least embarrassed to show up in style.

Alison and Amanda (above) and Rachel and I (below)

Special Thanks...

I just wanted to give a special thanks and shout out to my personal IT guy, who is the smartest IT guy I know...that would be my big brother, James. He has helped me through all of my laptop ordeals, helped me figure out how to get things downloaded and uploaded again, and thanks to him, you are getting to see a new blog post. Thanks for all your expertise, James! Thanks for all the free IT services and support that you give me!!!
(PS James is really excited to be on my blog and be "famous")

I am back!!!

I know that there have not been any new posts in a while, but I have a good excuse this time, I promise. I broke my LCD screen on my laptop 2 weeks ago, and it was going to basically cost the same price as a new laptop. Being 3 years old, I just decided to invest in a new laptop. I finally have it, and I can finally catch up on all of the millions of things that I need to do.
Things have been going well here in Boston. After my trips to North Carolina and Texas, I started student teaching, and I have had a really rewarding experience at my school. I am learning lots, and being reminded that I love working with kids, I love being active, and I love teaching kids skills and activities that they can develop and continue to utilize throughout their lives. My Master's program has been a good fit for me.
Besides student teaching, I am having a blast living with my 3 really good friends. We like our house, and I always feel like I am home. We cook together, talk, run errands, laugh, talk, cry, pray, talk and play and talk some more. The weather went from fall to winter, it has been really cold the last couple of days, in fact, we even got snow flurries on Sunday night. It is supposed to warm back up to the 50s this week, crazy Boston weather.
I love the Fall because it means that it is General Conference. My roommates and I watched the prophet, apostles, and other church leaders speak from our laptops at home. On Saturday night, while the men watched and listened to the Priesthood session of General Conference, all of the women in my single's ward went to the Bishop's home and enjoyed the evening with each other and his wife. We had soups, breads, rolls, and a dessert bake-off. Above, my roommates Rachel and Alison are sampling and judging each of the 10 desserts. I made the yummy Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake and won best seasonal dessert.

Later the following week, Alison and I drove out on a weeknight to the Topsfield Fair. SheDaisy was going to be performing, and it only cost $10 for the whole event. We were ecstatic when we saw a Sonic on our way to the fair. It is the first one in Massachusetts! We had yummy salads, mozzarella sticks, and I had a peanut butter chocolate shake-ooh, so so so good.

YAY for Sonic....we thoroughly enjoyed our entire meal, and after all of our food, we still got fried dough at the fair ;)

Alison does not like animals at all, not dogs, not cats, nothing...but for some strange reason, which I still do not fully comprehend, she loves cows. Go figure, she claims they are very misunderstood and very docile?! Whatever, here she is with a cow.

And I thought my Aggie brothers might enjoy the longhorn; hey, he is caged up, right?!

The last time that I saw SheDaisy was in Houston, as a sophomore in High School, at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The Topsfield Fair was no Houston Rodeo, but was still lots of fun!

Then on Monday, October 12th, I ran the Tufts 10K in Boston. Most people get school and/or work off for Columbus Day, don't you just love how patriotic Boston is?! I recruited lots of other girls from my ward at Church to run it. It was an awesome race, just for women, and there were some 6,000. I had an awesome run, despite not having my regular running buddy with me (my roommate Alison was supposed to do it, but started having major Achilles tendon pains just days before). Alison and Rachel, my roommates, came to be my personal coaches and cheerleaders. I ran it in a 51:11, averaging 8:15 per mile. That is the best time I have ever run a 10K, besides when I have run with Alex, who pushes me harder than I can push myself. In this picture, I am at the bottom left, white running shirt and navy running shorts, and one of my signature racing bandannas.

Here I am at the end of the race, so happy to be done. Despite a chilly morning, the sun came up and made for awesome racing weather.

Here I am with a girl in my ward, Lauren, who I convinced to run a 10K, her first one ever. She had fun, even though she had to run/walk it. We enjoyed the rest of the day around Boston and downtown.

And I love Boston for so many reasons...I love the weather, even when it's cold, I love the trees, I love the city, I love downtown, I love all the runners, I love the river, I love the neighborhoods and all the things that there are to do, and I love the houses-here is a good example of why-isn't this one just so fun!? I love the colors....

Hopefully, I will try and stay on top of things. Happy Autumn to all of you!