Halloween at the Liechty's!

Saturday we had a Halloween bash at the Liechty home!

We had such a blast! Everyone's costumes looked so great.  The food was amazing (as usual)! And we played some awesome Halloween games.  We love getting together with our neighbors!

 Gira and her cute little pumpkin

 Witch Hazel and Zorro (a.k.a. Whitney and Steven)

Gangsta Chrisss or 'White Chocolate' and his Hippie woman Emily

 Victor Frankenstein and Igor

Steven did my make-up and at first our neighbors didn't recognize me! I love it :)

here's a full view of our costumes

 I really love Halloween!

Salty Lake Weekend

About a week ago we went up to Salt Lake for the weekend. We had a very busy weekend and got to see a lot of great people! Friday night we went to a yummy dinner with Steven's parents, then went to Wheeler farm with my family to see their 'Freaky Friday' performance.  It was cute; zombies singing Halloween songs :) 

As we were waiting in line the zombies walk around all zombie-like.  My mom was holding Cloie and a zombie stood right behind her, then walked by.  Cloie stared at it for a bit then asked, "What Happened?" I think she was genuinely concerned for the zombie!  Mckell loved it and watched the whole time.  

My Saturday was spent shopping with my mummy while Steven hung out with his family. Then Steven and I went and walked around Temple Square and Downtown.  We haven't been down there in a while and the construction is really coming together nicely.  For a Saturday afternoon it was very peaceful and quiet.  We went to the top of this parking garage that we used to go to a lot and just enjoyed the view of the city, and watching the people and cars below.

I miss walking around downtown, and this day was the perfect day for it.

From there we headed to the U to meet up with my brother and sister-in law to see:

Thriller! At Kingsbury Hall.  They do a bunch of different dances to Halloween songs.  It was very well done, and really funny.  We had a blast watching it.  Thanks to Jameson and Katie for inviting us to go!

Then we ate at 

A favorite :) Best cheese fries, fry sauce, and ice cream!

Sunday we could not get out of bed to save our lives and ended up missing a really great regional stake conference :( but a lot of people told us all about the great messages shared.  We spent some time at the Powell's chatting with family, then had dinner at my parent's with all the siblings before heading back to Cedar.

We really enjoyed this weekend.  Here are some random pictures of my nieces that I took :)

 Mckell is crawling now, but we had to bribe her

 Cloie just wanted to pose for the camera :)

 Pretty face....

 Blaaahhhh (I got her coughing with graham cracker in her mouth)

 There's the pretty face :)

Good Things

http://lds.org/pages/mormon-messages-gallery?lang=eng#good-things-to-come

I haven't really watched many of the Mormon messages at lds.org until today, now I just want to sit and watch them all.  This one touched me the most today.  I love Elder Holland and I think this is just a great message that everyone should hear.  That, and maybe the fact that it is set in Southern Utah, practically where we are now :)  

Canning and Creme Brulee

I feel so domestic right now :)

 My Hubby and I canned some blueberry-lime jelly all by ourselves!

This is kind of epic for me :) I've canned before, but always with people who are

way more experienced and who tell me what to do.  This is the first time I've

done it without an expert to guide me.  It went pretty well! I panicked a bit

when they didn't seal at first, but then they did so it worked :)

Hopefully this leads to more canning adventures.

~

I also made creme brulee! I have been in love with the stuff since I 

first tasted it when I was 15 years old.  I've never made it before (except for an instant recipe once) because I thought it would be tricky.  I guess I've never looked 

closely at a recipe, or I just found a really easy one because it was super simple.

This one was a pumpkin creme brulee that I found here:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=204&sid=17744190

from Studio 5
It's not burnt, it just comes out dark because of the pumpkin.
 Also thanks to the pumpkin it tastes more like fluffy pumpkin pie than creme 
brulee, but it was still a good fall dessert.
~
Oh yeah, also- Steven and I tied a blanket!

Who knew my week off from work would be so productive? :)

New Toys!

I want one in my house!

At work we recently bought a bunch of new toys for our department.  Ok so they are

really for the children who require special education services, but we got to play with them first!

We got balance toys, a tricycle, tents, hammocks, colored sand, the wonderful ball pit that is pictured above, oh yeah, and Ipads! Plus much more.

We had a 'Christmas Party' where our department got to open all of the boxes and try all of the new stuff before the children got to them.  It was a lot of fun.

Plus, I was the first to jump into the ball pit (naturally:) while they were filling it up and got buried :) I needed a trip to the ball pit today, but sadly there was no time.

Well, we tried

Cedar City and the surrounding areas have a lot of festivals full of vendor booths that sell all sorts of things.  Well my mom and I decided to give one a try. 

The Parowan festivals are a little smaller, and the entrance fee is less, so we signed up for a booth at their Fall Festival.  We had knitted hats, children's sweaters, a few scarves, some trinkets, and some of Steven's photography for sale.

Here is our little booth.  At first we didn't have an awning.  We were told that if the weather was bad that it would be moved indoors.  Well, the weather wasn't very good, but we stayed outside (much to all of the vendors' dislike).  It rained a tiny bit and ruined some of the photos. We scrambled all over the place.  It was miserable and freezing.  Then, miraculously, an awning was found and donated! Things warmed up (a bit) and improved tremendously.  It was still freezing, but we didn't have to worry about our stuff getting wet.

We weren't expecting to sell much, but we were still hopeful.  I was very excited that five of the hats I'd made had sold!  We averaged about one sale an hour and made enough to cover our entrance fee, plus a little extra.  Steven's photography did get a lot of compliments.

A lot of the vendors said that this was the worst year they've had for this festival.  Because of the weather, there wasn't a great turn out.  The festival actually ended a little earlier than planned.  Despite the weather and the not-so-great turn out, we had fun and it was a good experience.  We learned a few do's and don'ts, and we met some really nice people.  I don't know if we will do it again or not, but I'm glad we at least tried once.

FALL!!

I love Fall! It is a lot of people's favorite season, 

including mine, and rightfully so!

I love the leaves and all of the colors.  I love taking drives to see them

I love the cooler weather, especially because I love wearing jackets.

I love Halloween, pumpkins, fall treats, apples, scarecrows, the whole 

package!

After Conference on Sunday we took a drive a little way up

Cedar Canyon.  Wow! The leaves are changing so fast.

Here is a bit of what we saw, and the pictures don't do them justice.

I really can't get enough of this season

Blessings

There have been a lot of struggles lately, and I have seen a lot of trials in the lives

of friends and loved ones.  It is so easy to get caught up in trials and be brought down by them.  I have been very blessed lately to see God's love in my life and in the lives of those that I love.  

I am feeling a lot of gratitude for the many blessings that I do have.  I am grateful for the health and strength I have; for a body that is so capable of doing many things.  I am grateful for the jobs that my husband and I have, and for the chance for Steven to further his education.  I am grateful for my family, for their strength, safety, love, and all I learn from them.  I am grateful for the great friends we have.  I'm grateful for the home we have and for where we live.  I am grateful for my husband, for unlimited reasons.

 

Most of all at this time I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge and peace it brings to me.  I'm grateful for the chance to hear and watch General Conference and the messages given by a living Prophet, Apostles, and officers of the church.  The first session of Conference just ended and I am just so filled with peace, and with excitement for the Church.  

One of my favorite things about Conference is when they announce new temples.  My testimony of temples has grown greatly over the last few years. I love temples and the peace and power they hold.  I'm so grateful for our temple marriage.  I'm always excited to hear about new temples, and what that means for the members in those areas.  This time I am particularly excited for the new Provo Temple, and for the Star Valley, Wyoming temple that was announced.  My sister-in-law and her family are from Wyoming and I know they have been waiting for the blessings of a temple in their state for a long time.  I am very happy and excited for them. 

There are always reasons to succumb to the discouragement of trials, but there are many more reasons to be grateful and remain positive even though it can be hard.  Conference, what a great way to spend a weekend! I am excited for the rest of it :)