Our Best Costumes Yet...

Now you see us.....

Now you don't!

It was hard to pull off "invisible," but after months of working on it, we got it.

Okay, okay, we didn't do costumes this year. We didn't have anywhere to wear them and we didn't really have time or energy to think about it. True, we have had fun going all out the last couple years (here and here), but unfortunately that led to high expectations for this year. Most people didn't even believe us when we told them we weren't doing anything! Anyway, maybe next year...

Speaking of Halloween this year though, we bought a couple big bags of candy for trick-or-treaters, but I guess you could say we bought it for ourselves because we had NOT ONE person come by. ZERO! We thought for sure we would have at least a few this year since we were in a house and not an apartment complex. Oh well. We still had fun watching a halloween movie and sipping hot chocolate. And now it's November and time for Thanksgiving... but before that... BABY (18 days)!

More good stuff

We have another niece! Last Monday, the 17th, Ryan's sister, Michelle, had her third baby (first girl!). I didn't have any pictures (besides in text messages) of the cutie, so I waited and stole this pic from Rach's blog. So, congrats to Michelle and her boys and welcome to the world, Stella Janae Rasmussen! She's adorable and we can't wait to meet her in person!

A good day

Yesterday was awesome for a few reasons in particular.

First, I had a traffic-free drive home from work (unheard of!) and found a package on my doorstep from my dad. The contents of which were something that you cannot get here in Ohio and that Ryan and I have greatly missed with this chilly fall weather:

This is not just any hot chocolate. Stephen's is a step above the rest, in our opinion. Thanks, Dad!

Second, I got a call from Ryan at 5:15 p.m. to tell me he was on his way home from work! This is also unheard of since he has been working WAY later than that lately. Then, because he was home at a decent hour and we were actually done with dinner before 8pm, we had time to run errands together. The best part was that it wasn't to Home Depot or Lowe's like it has been recently... he agreed to go to Joann Fabrics with me where we spent a long time (and ended up not finding what I was looking for. Darn!).

Third, we came home and had raspberry hot chocolate (see above) and watched a Halloween movie that was on tv. That was cool until Ryan made fun of me for thinking that the movie 'Hocus Pocus' was scary. But those witches.... creeeepy!! Anyone else agree?

Fourth, we're down to 3.5 weeks here! But if baby girl comes when I want her to, then we're at about 2.5 weeks. I have so much control over that, I know. :)

All that and it was only a Monday!!

Fall festivities

This past weekend we had the privilege of having Tyler, Nicole, and Caleb Johansen visit us! We always have a blast with them and since they are currently in Pittsburgh their assigned temple is Columbus, we we get to see them here and there. Saturday afternoon we went out to Circle S Farms where we enjoyed all the typical fall festivities: hay ride, pumpkin patch, corn maze, petting zoo, hay barn with slides, and donuts and cider. Besides some crazy wind that day, it was sunny and a perfectly comfortable fall temperature.

Most frequent comment I got from strangers that day: "Did you pay for that pumpkin you're hiding in your shirt?" :) No, but I will. Thousands of dollars, actually.

And the awkward story of the trip (because I always have one): Shortly after we got there, we were standing somewhere and talking and Nicole started focusing on my shoulder area, but it was a look I've seen before. The look that people give you when there's a spider or bug of sorts on you and I knew it as soon as I saw it. Of course I freaked out inside, but I tried to stand really still while saying "get it off! get it off! get it off!" over and over. Well, she made a good attempt to brush it off, but it made it fall down my shirt and into my bra (too much info? sorry)... which made me completely freak out and I started dancing around and totally pulling my shirt out and flashing everyone around us while trying to get it out! Of course I was drawing all sorts of attention because I'm certainly not calm during this type of thing. Oh well...I'll never see any of those strangers again, right?

Work Shower

I was starting to tell myself that I have been a bad blogger lately and not keeping up on things, but in all honesty, I haven't had much to blog about. I pretty much come home, eat dinner, and then pass out for the rest of the night. Oh well. Only about 5 more weeks to go (37 days)!

Anyway, my co-workers had a baby shower for me at work. They put a lot of effort into this which I appreciated, and a lot of people came. I'm glad someone had an iphone with them to take pictures because no one else remembered to bring a camera!

All of the leaves on the cake are made out of chocolate molds and they had them all over the tables too.

My manager, Katie (left), and co-worker, Gina (right) were the party throwers.

The winner of each category gets a Panera gift card. I really hope some of these guesses are WAY off (like a date of 11/27 and a weight of 8 lbs. 15 oz.) :)

It makes a world of a difference in the way of friendships (and networking) when you are actually in an office with people, versus working with an entire team that is virtual. I really do love everyone I work with.

Baby Shower

Last night my cute friend, Marci, threw me a baby shower for ward people. Let me tell you- she is quite the party planner! There was a pink and green theme with cute centerpieces and flowers to match, buggy sugar cookies, buggy white chocolate suckers, tons of yummy food including a chocolate fondu with so many good things to dip, and punch with raspberries and limes to decorate. There were a lot of women from the ward that came, as well as my mom and grandma. I had a lot of fun and am so grateful for the love and support from everyone!

Aren't these adorable?! They were quite tasty too- Ryan agreed.

People were so generous! I got lot's of super cute outfits, hats, bows and headbands, animals and toys, a bumbo with a tray, a stroller/car seat/travel system, baby carrier hiking thing, cute homemade pacifier clips, diapers and wipes, towels, baby hangers and closet storage organizers, blankets, and a quilt. By the time I left, I felt so much more prepared for baby girl to arrive!

This is the super cute puff quilt my mom made me. I love puff quilts and you don't get many of those from other people- so it's fun to get one and I was excited to finally see it after my mom's hard work!

My mom and grandma came down from Cleveland for the shower. It was fun to have them be there.

Me and Marci- the wonderful hostess.

I can't wait to meet our little girl in less than two months (crazy!!) and put all of this fun baby stuff to use!!

Glamour shots

You guys... don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Haha... doesn't get prettier than this! It was exactly one year ago from today that I had my surgery. One year ago, these pictures were certainly NOT funny, but now they make me laugh- mostly because I look so bitter in all of them, but really I just couldn't control my face enough to smile or look happy. I remember my doctor telling me that it would take about 1.5 years until I felt fully recovered, and I totally thought that sounded crazy. Well, here I am with 6 more months to go, and I believe him now! There were two major things that I had not been able to do until about a week ago, and that is bite into an apple and bite through a carrot stick. The carrot is still difficult, but the apple is getting easier if I get the right angle... and let me tell you, it was like Christmas knowing that I would get to actually eat apples this fall! The other thing is that my doctor said the chances of me staying numb forever was really low and that in 21 years of doing this surgery, the longest he has had someone stay numb is 7 months. Well, I have now set another record for him because the right side of my face is still numb. Probably always will be. That probably sounds weird to people to hear, but I have just gotten so used to it that I don't even notice anymore unless I focus on that fact. And it's not bad enough to affect speech or facial movement or anything really. Anyway, I'm SO glad I got this done and that it is all over with now. Whew! And just in case the pictures weren't enough... :)