ok, so i couldnt wait one more day to bring up HALLOWEEN.

this past weekend, i made my first "halloween 2007" purchase. i got these amazing light-up tree branches from illuminations. i love them. but that purchase just opened up a whole other can of worms. now, i am in full halloween mode. halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. i just love autumn time in general. but halloween is special to me because it is all about having fun and being creative. the picture above, is of my cubicle at work last year. delivery men didnt really appreciate the fence (it would blow down if you so much as looked at it).

this is my super cute cousin, dani. her and her husband were velma and shaggy from scooby-doo. this picture was taken in the "waiting area" for those who dared to go in the haunted house below. we had so much fun putting together that spook alley, and we are already planning this year's. (we might even have a chainsaw make an appearance....)

holy crap. this makes me miss my brother. those eyes, that hair, that paris-hilton-like pose! loves it. i saw a hat similar to the one i am wearing in a little boutique, and it was $50.00. so i made my own. craig and louis didnt especailly love the black glitter that mysteriously got caked into the carpet as a result of my little craft....

gary (the kid on the right) is a good family friend. craig and him make a fine couple.

every year, my family has a huge donut party. we make the donuts from scratch and serve them with apple cider. it is seriously the greatest tradition ever. last year was our first time combining the donut party with a spook alley. this is my mom and brother in the kitchen, selling their souls to make those donuts rise. (the cold, wet cabin wasnt the best place for yeast.)

we must have done something right last year, because it didnt rain. gotta love seattle.

this was my little gingerbread (really, graham cracker) haunted house. the ghosts are meringue. i brought it to our ward cake walk, and secretly wanted no one to take it so that i could being it back home.

this was my other contribution to the ward halloween party.

louis gets so bored with all his photo shoots. his beauty is effortless. my friend said that this picture could be on the cover of the "cat anthropologie" catalog (if there was such a thing). i dont tell him such things, his head is pretty big already.

louis lobster. this picture gets me every time. i asked him last night if he wanted to be a lobster again this year, and i swear he flipped me off. no respect.

this is louis on his first halloween. he looks so little. can you believe he carved that pumpkin so well? especially with his paw-fur getting in the way? it was a mess.

smith family pumpkins, 2005. i could spot craig's handy work from a mile away..... (the one on the left, for those of you who arent married to the guy) i thought guys stopped making cartoons like that in seventh grade. i guess not.

and i was worried about headaches.... ok. first things first. a couple of days ago, i blogged (read:whined) about my never-ending headaches. so, i finally called my doctor and told her i needed a solution. she said that the next step is taking narcotics, and that is a last resort. so i upped my diet coke/no-doz/extra strength tylenol concoction and just hoped for the best. and for the last few days, it has worked! yay. and just when i thought i had everything under control... this happened! i was driving home from work yesterday and a lady pulled out in front of me. my poor little jetta got destroyed. luckily, nothing hit my belly, so the baby is otay. however my neck and back are aching like crazy, and i couldnt go to work today. now i have to deal with all the insurance crap and my car is in the shop for who knows how long. i just feel so blessed that i didnt get seriously hurt and that we have insurance. glass half full, right?

elder short in florida this is my brother with a family in winterpark, florida. i guess they baptized this little twelve year old because his records had been lost. lucky kid. he got a clean slate four years after most of us. i really could have used the whole "records lost" bit around the age of 15.

the flippin waffle house! you cannot fully partake of the South without dining at a waffle house. think denny's, but grosser. the guy on the right is kinda looking at my brother funky.... as in misty-eyed-funky.

this is elder short (who is a trainer now!) at Jonathan's baptism. taylor gave the "Baptism" talk. i would have paid to have been there. i am so proud of him.

also. i cannot omit the inspirational words elder short wrote in his latest letter:

"So far in my mission however, Colombians have won my heart. They are some of the most genuinely deluxe people I have ever met."

seriously, "deluxe" is my new word.

wedding season
i love summertime because its WEDDING time. there is nothing like getting all dressed up, going to some great venue, eating yummy food, and celebrating friends who are in love! last night, we went to katie and christopher's wedding reception. it was held at the plateau club, and everything was beautiful. katie and christopher are from my stake and are old family friends. we are all so happy for the both of them.

katie's dress was made by the same lady that made my dress... shout out to KNAR! it was beautifully made and fit katie's style perfectly. the dress kinda had a preppy feel, it was great!

this is the happy couple cutting the delicious cake. no cake-face-smashing.... christopher was taught well!

this is me with the groom's sisters, kim and caitlin. their bridesmaids dresses were so cute. i love these girls.

lizzie and me. lizzie is my brother's (taylor) best friend. she looked so beautiful!

after i took this shot, my dad said (loudly) "was there anything in my teeth?" i am sure the people at our table thought we were so high class. :)

these are our good friends, jill and bart. craig and bart always seem to wear things that either the other one already owns, or really wants to own. they should just go on a man-shopping spree at j-crew, and they would be set. these two are such great friends to us, we are so lucky!

this is the happy OLD married couple. it is so weird, that only two years ago, we were the ones getting married. these last two years have been the best of my life. i am incredibly happy that i snatched up craig. he is so special to me. i am not going to go on an on about how perfect life is, because that isnt realistic..... but honestly, we are as happy as two (and a half.... and a kitty) people could be. i love you, craig.

if only it were that easy
i would consider myself pretty lucky with this whole pregnancy thing. i havent been that sick, and up until about a week ago my only real symptom was being super tired. but alas. i have now started getting these INTENSE migraines. and because i am pregnant i cannot take anything more than tylenol for them (which is like basically taking nothing). so, i just wake up with a headache and go to bed with a headache.... EVERYDAY. it is driving me nuts. i have my next doctors appointment this wednesday, so hopefully they will be able to give me something. ANYTHING.

when outback invaded disneyland

we just back from my first big business convention. we took all fourty of our restaurant proprietors and their families to disneyland. i was so stressed out because i had to coordinate everything from EVERY ONE'S airfare (over 120 people) to hotel reservations to shuttling the entire crew around anaheim. but as my dad told me before i left for the trip "things are always worse in your head". he was right. everything went swimmingly. the weather was perfect and the resort was amazing. everyone had three-day dineyland passes, so after the the morning meetings we all just walked over to the happiest place on earth. it was great!

this was after the first day. one of the proprietors passed me right after this shot was taken and said "that is the first time i have seen you smile today!" (funny how nemo can do that to a girl!) i guess i need to work on hiding my stress level! luckily, after the first day, i relaxed and put a big smile on my face.

this was our first time being at disneyland at nighttime! it was so fun. we were able to go on the TWO rides i could actaully go on a bunch of times because everyone was watching the fireworks show. please dont ask me why i bring my huge purse with me to places like this. craig is such a trooper to hold it for me.

the disney castle was a brilliant purple! i loved it! you can kinda see it in the background.

this is a better picture of it.

ok. i guess i really liked the purple castle. the guy that took this picture couldnt handle the fact that we wanted the flash off. it was really hard for him.

hahaha. speaking of having a hard time, craig did not want to put this hat on. he was very paranoid of "little-kid-lice". bless his soul. this represents one of the few rides we rode (one doesnt realize how limiting pregnancy can be until one travels to an amusement park and cannot ride anything.) we stood in line for one hour for the alice in wonderland ride. kinda pathetic.

this is us, being depressed because we couldnt ride anything.

i was so excited when ariel came down the parade line. craig was disturbed by the body suit ariel was wearing that made her look very white and very naked.

this is my souvenir from the trip. i have always wanted a charm for my phone, and now i have a light-up ariel one. craig is a little bit embarrassed by it. to be fair to him, ariel is kinda big.

as a final treat of the trip, i spotted PAULY SHORE in LAX. he was wearing sunglasses (the security lady asked him to take them off) and tried to cut the massive security line. he was wearing a low cut v-neck shirt ( who said that this was the new mantrend? i loathe it) with chest hair galore coming out of it. i didnt want to give him the satisfaction of taking his picture (i have heard that he isnt the nicest, most down to earth kinda guy) so this is the best i could do.

the baby's first gift
last week, my dad and mom surprised us and took us to bellesquare to purchase our dream stroller! we are so lucky. the second i found out i was with child, i knew i had to figure out some way to get my hands on a bugaboo...... mercifully the hands that did the exchanging across the store counter were my dad's! thank you so much, you two! it is like nails on a chalk board to my mom when we allow louis to get in the stroller, but he just loves it too much.

this is just the bassinet attachment. it is kind of an ordeal to switch it out for the seat (the seat is for when the baby grows out of the bassinet), so i couldnt convince craig to make the change for this particular photo shoot, but next time i will.

this stroller has so many fabulous little tricks. i love it. i just cannot wait to use it in five and a half months.