Temple Lights

Oh the temple lights... I just love this time of year when we can drive up to Salt Lake and just feel the christmas spirit. We started our day eating lunch at Chipotle. So good!! Then we went and saw the Joseph Smith Movie which never gets old I love that movie, I think I even caught Chase shedding a tear :). We then went and walked around the temple and the lights. After that we did a little shopping and finished our night off at Chilis! We were starving but just felt like appetizers so we thought Chilis would be just perfect!

Gingerbread

I know I am horrible at posting on this blog, but there really is not much going on when your husband is in school and you work full time. For thanksgiving we went to chase's parents house. I had to work the day after thanksgiving and we would have to drive back on thanksgiving day. But Chase's parents were sooo nice they moved thanksgiving to Wednesday just so we can be there to celebrate and it was wonderful! Of course we did not bring a camera but the whole family was there and it was nice to see everyone.

The other day we got the usual gang together and did our annual gingerbread house night. I am soo bad at building gingerbread houses, I dont know if its my lack of patience or what but my

house always ends up falling apart. This year they had a bet on how long it would take for me to destroy it, needless to say my house actually stayed up this year! Now that i have the building of it down, I just have to work on my decorating skills haha. It was a fun night filled with family, the best holiday movie Home Alone, and some yummy pizza!

The finished result! Lo and Mckay did awesome they had a sled and everything! Ali and Will did a whole village which I was so jealous of I have no idea what Chase's and mine was but it was fun!

Pumpkin Carving

So we did our annual pumpkin carving. I know it was a little early but I could not wait! Needless to say my pumpkin has already started to go bad.. but this was my plan all along so I have an excuse to carve another pumpkin next week haha

Here is the crew...

My sis in law Lo and her brother Willy
My other sis in law Ali and her "friend" Josh :) Yes i did set them up as I am known to be a good match maker hahaMckay and Mrs. Lo
and yes Lo is pregnant! I'm so excited for this...finally a niece I can spoil that lives close!!!!! I cant wait for little Cora to come in Feb.
The handsome chase helping me with my pumpkin

. He was building a house for a school project out of cardboard this night so he just helped me with mine.The final Result!!
Order of the lovely pumpkins go as... Ali, Josh, Mckay, Me and Lo's is in the front. Chase made fun of me cause i did a owl but i though it turned out kind of cute if I do say so myself haha

Fall

This is provo Canyon in the fall... we are so lucky: :)Fall is finally here...

It has been raining all week, I have put a new scentsy smell ( honey pear Cider its delicious!) and tonight we are carving pumpkins with our traditional crew while we watch our traditional movie Hocus Pocus (pictures to come next post). I just love this time of year, I always have. Nothing new has been going on so I have no Idea what to post about :). Im still working and Chase is still in school, this is his last big semester though and next semester he just has one class and he is done! I dont know how i feel about that yet. I am super excited in some ways but in others im kind of scared. Where will we move to? Where will he get a job? What is like going to be like outside of provo? I have been here for six years now and finally getting used to it. But i do miss home, but who knows if we will even end up in California? So many exciting yet nerve wracking things to come!

Some of my favorite things during fall...Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins!!!!

Tai Pan has the best holiday decorations! Love love love their halloween decorations!

Food network challenge has the coolest pumpkin carvings contests..
I love having fall smells...Last but not least I love trick or treaters!! I love seeing little kids dress up and just having the time of their lifes! I cant wait to see what costumes come out this year!!!!

Here is one of me when I was little with my best friend still to this day Chelcie :)

( I know I dont look to happy but that is only because of the hole in my tights and some of my buttons fell off hahah )

And anything pumpkin!!! I love baking with pumpkins.. i got this recipe from sisterscafe.blogspot.com last year and it is soo yummy!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream together:

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

Then add:

1 cup pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

Sift together dry ingredients then add to above wet mixture.

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

Add 1 cup milk chocolate chips. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Allow to cool then frost.

Icing:

In saucepan, heat 3 Tb butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar over medium to med-high heat until bubbling and thick. Cool 10 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup milk. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

This is why...

I love this office!!!!!!!!

So excited

I am so excited for this...

If you have not read these books you are missing out. I have been waiting all year for the third one to come out and its coming here at the end of the month!!!

This makes me laugh, if you have seen the old spice commercials you will appreciate this... go BYU

in words of cafe rio.... "FREE MEAL"

You get a 30 dollar gift card for your birthday when you sign up on their email list, I can not wait to eat here for my birthday this month

So sad about this...

Shade is closing.. it makes me so sad. I loved this store!!!

Last but not least I am so excited to make this tonight! Its raining and this is one of Chase's all time favorite soups I make so I thought I would share the recipe :) I make a few minor adjustments to make it a little healthier such as turkey bacon and fat free sour cream and cheese. But I would recommend trying the real recipe first with out modifications, best Baked potato soup ever!

Ingredients

• 12 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
• 2/3 cup margarine
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 7 cups milk
• 4 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed ( cook in oven first)
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. In a stock pot or Dutch oven, melt the margarine over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly until thickened. Stir in potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
2. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Mix in bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!!!!!!

Dodge...

I think this commercial is hillarious! I think dodge got it right with this one :) And even though my dad owns a dodge dealer ship does not mean im biased in the least :). Enjoy!

James Robert Hexberg

I am so excited my little nephew is here! My sister Lori had a beautiful baby boy on Wednesday night after 35 hours of labor! They finally ended up doing a C-Section, he was just to big for my sis! I love him so much already! Chase and I were lucky enough to fly down Thursday and stay till Monday night, of course I forgot to bring my camera and did not get any pictures so I stole these from other people.

First Family Picture, Lori, Haws, and baby James. How hot does Lori look! I do not understand how someone can look that good after 35 hours of labor and a C-Section! James Robert Hexberg 8.7lbs and 20 inches longChaser with JamesAuntie Dana with James

We also got to stay for the 4th which was great! We hung out at my grandmas with all my cousins and played some ladder ball and Bocce Ball which I just love! Chase and I had to buy a set it was so fun. But now we are back in reality and Chase started his job today! I'm so excited that he found a internship! It will be a great opportunity for him.

here we come park city!

I am so excited for our 2 year anniversary this weekend. Chase was amazing and got us a sweet deal! ahhh! Just going to relax and lounge, it sounds like heaven. We are staying at the hotel park city, they upgraded us for free to a cottage suit that has a jacuzzi on the balcony, jetted bath tubs ( if you know you me you know how much I love baths! I take one every night haha), and they gave us a $80 dollar gift card to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, and a free massage!I love my husband more then anything, I can not believe that it has only been two years, He honestly has so much patience with me and my sensitive side :) especially over this last month when I have been on an emotional roller coaster, he has told me every day how beautiful I am and it means the world to me especially since I know this scar on my face is not the most faltering thing :), I love how he loves to tease me, I act like I get mad, but I secretly love our teasing relationship, I can tell him anything I am thinking and he does not judge me or try to fix it he just listens( this took a while for him to do cause at first he loved to give a solution but now he knows I just need him to listen which he does great at now!) , I love his little quirks like his pouting face, his need to play a game of xbox every night before bed while I watch some kind of Disney movie, how he has to have lotion on his hands always or else his hands feel funny and he cant touch anything, how he is such a perfectionist ( I cant wait to build our house cause I know its going to be perfect!), how important his family is to him, he loves them so much and always likes to feel in the loop with the going on's with all his siblings,how clean and organized he is... Chase I love you, thank you for all your support and love these last few years!

Viewer Discretion is Advised... :)

My surgery was two weeks ago and I actually have enough energy to talk about it now. Just a precaution this is going to go into detail of the surgery. My sister in law wanted me to put pictures up of how it looked, I have been deciding whether or not I should because the only pictures I took were with my phone and when I looked the ugliest to send to my family so we will see... :)
Here is how the day went... My lovely mother took me to the doctor's at seven in the morning, there was four of us there that day to get the same surgery done and I was the only one under the age of 85, but they were so nice and funny. So the doctor takes me back and cuts out some of the side of my nose and then sends me back into the waiting room. As I wait I watched movies and read some books, then he calls me back and there is more he needs to take, I do this a couple times where he takes it out and tests it then brings me back in and takes out more. I guess it was growing pretty big, he was even surprised on how much he had to cut out. So he keeps cutting till the cancer is all out.. Six hours later he tells me he got it all! yes!!!! I am so thrilled at this point! no more cutting, no more waiting, everything is all done.

They take me back and start to sew everything up. First he said he had to show me the hole that he cut so he gives me a mirror. Oh my is all I can say.. I was in shock on how big the hole was and almost started crying, but I resisted..He started stitching it up but realized the towards the top it was pulling way to much and he ended up having to cut a pretty good size of skin from the front of my ear to do a skin graph on my nose, because if he just sewed my nose up it would make me look really deformed and pull my skin to tight. So he he cut by my ear and put it on my nose and sewed it up. Its amazing to me that they can take skin from anywhere on your body and it can just attach somewhere else... pretty cool. Two hours later he shows me the end result all the while my mom is sitting in the waiting room.

He gives me the mirror and I Don't know if its because it has been just a long day, my mom was there, and I was so swollen, but I just start crying! I mean I was crying so hard they had to put the chair down and strap me in, in case I was going to faint. The doctor and nurses were sooo nice! They held my hand and just comforted me. Then he goes to tell me that he has to sew the bandage to my nose so there is enough pressure to make the skin graph heal better. So I'm sitting there, I'm not numb any more and he goes to town sewing it to my eyebrow, nose, and cheek. It kills! Then he goes and grabs my mom and the minute she comes in I start cry even more! hahaha. Now I am done, I just want to go home at this point. So Here I am on the drive home.....My mom called me cyclops :) Don't be too scared of this picture I was sooo swollen on my whole face and neck and I just got done crying..Look how its sewed to my eyebrow.. ouch!

My mom was here for 3 wonderful days, I honestly don't know what I would of done without her here.. She cooked and took such good care of me. Her and Chase were an awesome team. I almost fainted the first night, and the pain meds made me sick and throw up. But after a couple of rough days I started feeling better...I couldn't remove the bandages till the next week so for a week I had a bandage sewed to my face and it drove me crazy! I had to go back to work the next Tuesday so he took it off on Monday and here is what it looked like...

I am at work now and I think my nose helps me close a sell haha I get the pitty sale haha. But its healing so much faster then I thought. I think he did a awesome job! The skin graph will take a couple months to heal and The scar will probably be really noticeable for about a year but other then that I am feeling great and cancer free!

Here I am today, I am still bruised and my eye is still swollen, same with my nose. I cant wear any bandages or make up over my skin graph, But all the edges are healed its just the very center that is still not great. You would not even guess that I had stitches all the way down to my nostril and up to my eye. My doctor really did a good job and blending in the scar, cause all I can see right now is the skin graph and not the rest of where he put the stitches. I think my doctor did a great job.. u can barley see the scar on the left side of my face!

I honestly have the most caring husband, family and friends in the world. Every day I got flowers from someone in the ward, work, or my friends. They cooked me meals, sent me cookies, brought me cold stone and my visiting teachers made me home made salsa and chips! That is my favorite snack of all time. I just want to thank everyone for keeping me in their prayers, I truly felt all your love and I am sooo thankful!!!! Thank you everyone!!!!!!!