Thanksgiving Break...

I know... it's been forever!! You'd think with all the time I have in one day that I'd have plenty of time for blogging... which I do... it just takes a whole lot of effort for me to finally sit down at the computer and BLOG. I don't know what it is, sometimes it's like homework for me... I put it off and put it off until people bug me enough about how I'm at the bottom of their blogging list because it's been weeks since I've blogged! So here you go everyone... let me catch you all up...

Twilight!

Since every other mormon girl has posted on their blog about seeing Twilight, I figured I might as well try and fit in with the rest of the LDS world... and post about it as well. Carlee, Nicole, Jessica, and I went and saw Twilight last Saturday while our husbands all went to the Bond movie. (It was the second day it had come out and the theater wasn't even half full!) From what I hear, the theaters in Utah were quite the opposite. My mom and sisters waited in line for an hour and a half! Crazy! I'm not sure what I was expecting... from the previews I guess I wasn't expecting a whole lot, plus nothing ever lives up to the book. I agree with most people, I think they did the best they could at following the story line. I just felt like there was SOO much detail that they weren't able to relay in the movie... basically half the book is what Bella is thinking and you can't exactly put that part into a movie. So the parts where I felt like were very climatic in the book... weren't so climatic in the movie. Not to mention it was a little cheesy at times, but I guess that's to be expected. I'm guessing/hoping the next three movies will continue to get better... assuming they'll continue to have more money to put towards making the movie. That's kind of how it was with Harry Potter if I remember correctly. Anywho, I still enjoyed it and would certainly watch it again... maybe with Jeff next time. :) Ha, yeah right!

Scone Party at the Richins!

Last Tuesday was the last day of school for our husbands before the Thanksgiving break.... so we decided to all get together and have a scone party. I think we went through about 60 scones! (and I would know because Carlee and I were the ones making them!) That's a lot of bread for 16 people! We also had some delicious homeade apple cider and hot chocolate! Mmm!

Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we decided to get all the first years together and have a big Thanksgiving dinner. It made being homesick not quite so bad... Jeff and I and two other couples went Wednesday night to the church to get things set up. We did it on the stage and put up a whole bunch of lights... I was quite impressed with our efforts. :) And then we showed up the next day and every one of them had fallen down! Darn tape! We had about 20 adults and 7 kids... it was quite the feast! This is the first year I have ever had to cook for Thanksgiving. I realized it's not quite as fun when you actually have to cook. I like just showing up with it all ready for me to eat! It actually wasn't that bad, I learned how to make Jeff's mom's amazing stuffing and my aunt Sheryl's to-die-for sweet potatoes. I also made the green bean casserole.... which I love. All the food was delicious and we were lucky enough to come home with two days worth of leftovers... we got a little bit of everything! That doesn't usually happen! I'm so glad we are able to have "family" away from family. I can't be grateful enough for all the friends we've made since we've been out here. It has honestly been such a blessing.

Jeff and I had to both speak in church last Sunday on Being Grateful for Our Blessings. And like everyone says... the one preparing the talk gets way more out of it than the people listening to the talk. I truly have so much to be grateful for. I can't even begin to express my gratitude to the Lord for all He has given me. To name just a few.... I have such a wonderful husband who tries so hard to always make me happy. He is such an example to me of a someone who works his butt off to get what he wants. And although I feel like he is always studying, he somehow always makes time for me. He puts up with me and all of my shortcomings as a wife. I consider myself lucky to be married to him..... I have an amazing family who has always been supportive of me my whole life. Living out here in Pittsburgh I have come to realize how important family really is. I've noticed more and more out here how family tends to get put on the back burner and people become too involved in their busy lives that they forget to make time for family. It amazes me how peoples jobs and busy lifestyles take priority over their own families. I really don't know what I'd do without my family. I know they are always there when I need them! I am so grateful for all the people we've met and the experiences we've had living out here in Pittsburgh. I am grateful that the adjustment wasn't near as hard as I was expecting. And I am even more grateful that we get to come home and spend Christmas with family!

I couldn't back up enough to get everyone in... I would have fallen off the stage!




After dinner we played a bunch of games... catch phrase, ticket to ride, pounce, and a few games of lightning to work off all that food!

Downtown Pittsburgh!

Jeff and I met up with Devin and Nicole downtown at the Strip District on Saturday. It's kind of like going to a farmer's market. It's about 5 or 6 blocks full of tons of little shops and street vendors selling all different kinds of ethnic foods... from Italian meats and cheeses, to seafood, Mexican, Greek, Chinese, Asian, American... you name it, it's there. We basically tried a little bit of everything... spinich egg roll thing, dried apples, pizza on french bread, all different kinds of breads and cheeses... they have a store with a million different kinds of cheese from all over the world, and they let you try any of them, who knew there was so many different kinds of cheese! We tried a bunch of different kinds of salsa, barbecued chicken and pineapple on a stick, fried rice, donuts... yep, we pretty much tried it all! :) With a little help from our friends! They also have a bunch of shops full of jewelry, fresh flowers, t-shirts, photos, sunglasses, hats, toys, etc... We went to a really cool kitchen shop, they had the coolest little kitchen tools!

Then we went downtown and saw the Ginormous Pittsburgh Christmas Tree all lit up.... it was so awesome! I was expecting a dinky litte tree in the middle of town with some lights and that was it. But I was suprisingly impressed! The tree was in the middle of a whole bunch of tall glass buildings.... definitely adding to the effect. And then they had ice skating, horse buggy rides, a band playing christmas music, and tons of gingerbread houses lined up inside one of the buildings. I told Jeff we are definitely going back to ice skate sometime, I have always seen this type of thing in movies... never in real life!







On our way home we stopped at the lookout spot on Washington point and took some really pretty pictures.... I love how the sun is just right, making the buildings reflect off of the water.... so pretty!







Afterwards we went over to Brett and Carlee's and taught them how to play spades! Jeff and I are so happy we now have someone to play spades with... we love that game!

Now it's back to school for Jeff.... booo.... he is going to have an intense couple of weeks full of finals and then it's off to Utah! Wahoo! I can't wait.... I am counting down the hours... I mean days.... haha.

Happy late Thanksgiving everyone!